Helping out
by TheBlueBomberBoomer
Summary: Ness finds himself helping the smashers, with various problems both in the mansion, and at their homes. How much will he be able to help? How long will he be able to take it? Please review.
1. Mayoral help part 1

It was a calm morning as any other at the Smash Mansion. It was a clear sky, the sun shining brightly as it slowly rose inside the mansion. It was all quiet. People specifically invited came to fight, but it was more than that the fact that everyone met with one another to get along and share their own tales of adventures or current life.

In one of the rooms on the second floor, a teenage boy was slumbering in his bed. He was wearing pajamas that had blue and light blue streaks on them. He had black hair that was a mess, a red baseball cap resting nearby on his nightstand. He was Ness, a boy from the town of Onett, gifted with psionic powers at birth. He was one of the children of the mansion invited and one of the original contestants, having been there for every single invitation he had received. He always enjoyed coming back to meet his friends, even if some of them could not return due to not getting invitations.

Ness was slumbering peacefully. He would normally sleep in an extra hour or two in the morning. Just then he felt something on the side of his head. He opened his blue eyes that easily adjusted to the darkness. He saw a small pink limb that was touching him. Ness sat up. His blankets were a bit untidy, nothing new to his mornings so far. He looked over, seeing a pink puff ball lying beside him that had a green nightcap with a white bobble on his head. The black haired boy picked up the pink puff ball, slightly awakening it.

"Kirby. Why are you in my bed?" Ness asked, seeing one of his best friends that had the ability to copy one of someone else's abilities just by inhaling them. The raven haired boy was more confused by how long his pink friend had slumbered with him.

"Poy-poyo…" Kirby spoke, not having a vocabulary. Really this wasn't the first time his friend had been caught sharing his bed. He assumed it was the same reason as last time.

"Villager working early again?" Ness guessed, assuming this to be about Kirby's roommate, a newcomer so to speak who did work late. Kirby nodded a yes, hoping that his friend wouldn't mind him staying to sleep. Ness put Kirby down, letting him rest on the pillow. The young boy didn't mind, for the pink star child's presence always brightened his mood. A lot of people in the smash mansion liked Kirby.

"You can sleep here. I'll just go grab some breakfast," Ness claimed, getting up. Kirby nodded, thankful to his good friend for allowing him to sleep in his bed. Ness looked over to another nearby bed that belonged to his own roommate who was still asleep in it, buried under his own blankets to try and keep the morning light out when it did reach their window. The young boy heard a light tapping on the side of the wall. It was a lot louder than it sounded. He knew that was Kirby's room next door and probably his roommate making noise every time he entered the closet. He fixed his red cap on his head and left the room, seeing the hallway that had a nice carpeting to it and various pictures hanging from the walls.

Ness approached the neighbouring door and knocked lightly on it. He didn't hear any objections so he grabbed the doorknob and turned it, entering inside. The room looked odd to his eyes. Kirby and his roommate clearly had different tastes. He saw one half of the room which just had a bed with a basic white blanket on it, but was a pretty big bed for someone of Kirby's size. The other side of the room had a bed that clearly hadn't been touched yet since it was last made. He saw a desk with a filing cabinet by it, and here on the desk sat a boy around his age, looking a little shorter than he did, his hair being chestnut colored. He was at the desk in red pajamas which was mostly just a red shirt that had a number 2 on the front of it.

"Villager, are you okay?" Ness put his hand on his shoulder, getting his attention, noticing a lot of various paperwork and files on the desk. The teenage boy was known as villager, a mayor that had been invited, though like anyone else with a position of power from their homeland, they still had to do minor management in their spare time. Villager nodded. He had bags under his eyes, having not slept for the past two days.

"Your work's starting to make Kirby sneak into my room more. I don't mind another pillow, but it's gonna hurt his fighting schedule if you keep waking him up," Ness requested that he prioritized the work more in the daytime. He didn't mind the pink puffball sleeping with him, in fact it was a joke he heard commonly from their friends. Villager looked back to his desk, letting his head rest on his hand. He was a mute, but he did display nothing but guilt. Ness sat down on the bed near him.

"Is there anything I can do to help?" Ness offered, aware that this might be a thing taking up all of his friend's time, and if it was getting this bad, he had to do something to help. Villager thought for a second, but then got a smile, opening the filing cabinet and beginning to rummage around through it, pulling out a small yellow folder. He handed it over to the raven haired boy who then opened it. He read the contents inside. "Temporal Mayorship takeover due to illness that makes the current mayor unable to make decisions."

"You want me to be mayor for you?" Ness questioned, viewing the file. It was only a temporary thing. Villager nodded, pointing to another part of the file that had a box for his signature for how long the temporary mayor was going to be in charge. The smashers did have easy access to one another's worlds, and if he could aid in helping a friend and all it did was cost him a few days, he didn't have any reason to protest. Ness took the pen from his chestnut haired associate and signed his name along the bottom.

Villager took the file and wrote down two days for how long the temporary takeover would be. He stood up happily, rushing over to the closet and beginning to gather a bunch of things in it. Ness had a worrying feeling in the back of his head but it would be worth it in the end, trading two days of work so his friends could get a proper night's rest.


	2. Mayoral help part 2

Ness was sitting on the edge of his friend's bed, having signed an agreement to be temporary mayor for him while he rested for two days. The black haired boy wasn't seeing any downsides so far until he saw his chestnut haired friend pull out a red suit from his closet and handed it over. They were thankfully similar in body size, but Ness was a little taller.

"Do I really have to wear this?" he hesitantly asked. His mute friend nodded, looking very happy to have him doing this, though Ness was not the biggest fan of suits. He had worn them only at special events. He remembered one fond memory of hanging out with his friends at one of a many Runaway Five concert after changing into the suit. The teenage boy was fiddling with his tie, trying to adjust it right.

"So what do I have to do when I get to your town?" he tried to inquire what mayoral duties would involve. The last time he had a conversation with a mayor, the man requested no liability if he got hurt. Villager showed a picture of an anthropomorphic yellow furred shiatsu in a fancy dress. Clearly it was a photo taken at a party.

"Oh, your assistant, Isabelle, right? I should find her when I get there?" Ness asked. The Villager nodded, hugging his friend, thankful, though from how tired he was it seemed like the young mayor would fall asleep standing up. The boy in the suit helped his friend get into his own bed before he went over and turned off the lights to the room.

"Sleep well. I'll make sure your town does fine," Ness said, seeing that he was asleep. After the blanket got put over him and his head was on something soft, Ness shook his head before leaving the room, now dawning the red suit, opening the door to his own room and tossing in his pajamas before closing the door gently. He wondered if he was too nice to his friends sometimes, but he saw no downside to this. Worst case he spent two days behind a desk. He didn't like the thought of doing a job like his father's, a hard worker who never had time to visit home much at most. He could only contact him using a telephone, but it didn't stop him from respecting his dad's decisions to do hard work to keep his family happy.

Ness found himself heading to the highest area the stairs could take him to, which was the fourth floor. There were a lot of doors on this floor. Each one had a different symbol on it. He went down to the farthest section of the hallway. Every time he came back to the mansion would be a new floor added for expansion and space for storage. He saw a key dangling by each door. The one he wanted specifically though was a blue coloured door that had a leaf shaped key by it. He grabbed it, taking in a deep breath, poking the key into the lock and twisting it. The door creaked as it was open. He saw a bright light. It was mostly a twisting shine of colours, like any specific portal. Before he could react, the young boy saw nothing but darkness for a short minute.

Ness felt oddly calm during this time in the darkness. The teleportation method was always questioned by him, but he could never get a good answer whenever he asked around the mansion, but when he opened his eyes, he realized his environment had changed without him barely noticing, like he had just lightly slept. It felt nice to still get that extra sleep that he had missed out on this morning. He was sitting on a train. The transit was riding across the rails through a more heavily forested area. From what he could see out the window, it was the same time of weather as it was at the Smash Mansion, which was early spring.

"Oh, hey. Are you travelling too?" a voice chimed, Ness seeing someone approaching. It was an anthropomorphic cat with blue and white fur, wearing a diamond patterned red sweater vest, coming over taking a seat across from him, appearing to be the only other passenger on the train.

"Uh, kind've… I'm becoming temporary mayor for the town of Leaf Scale," Ness answered, shaking the cat's paw. He always had doubts of the town name, but it didn't sound too bad.

"Wow that sounds like a lot of work. The town's great, I even met the original mayor. I'd stay there more, but I like to travel the rails. Oh, by the way, I'm Rover," he said, introducing himself.

"I'm Ness, and he kind of had an emergency and I had to take over for a few days," Ness declared while they were noticing the train slowing down and beginning to come to a stop and pulling into the station. The young boy stood up, brushing off some dust.

"It was nice talking with you. Have fun travelling," he bid Rover farewell before leaving to disembark from the train. Rover waved from the window as the train left the station again. If everyone around here was as nice as he was, he wasn't going to have any trouble with mayoral duties. Ness could see a flag off in the distance over some trees. The town of Leaf Scale looked nice just from the view of the train station. He could see the early spring weather in the small town. He began to make his way toward where the flag was, aware that he had seen it in some of Villager's pictures that it was from the front office. It didn't take long for him to arrive. It was a short walk, but he saw the front office, the flag at the top of it flapping in the wind. The flag had a leaf on the center and it looked like it was cutting through a rock on the flag. It did look like Villager's handiwork. He smiled, fixing his tie before heading inside, at last seeing the familiar assistant he had seen in the photo this morning behind a reception desk.

"Oh, may I help you?"


	3. Mayoral help part 3

Ness saw the familiar anthropomorphic shiatsu in front of him in a green vest and a blue skirt standing near the reception counter. Clearly she had been swamped in paperwork like Villager was the last time he saw him. Judging by how full her out box was though, she didn't seem fatigued in the slightest since the in box was empty.

"You're Isabelle, right?" Ness asked while digging around in his suit pockets, pulling out the folder he had signed himself and showing it to her. The assistant nodded, taking it and opening it viewing the folders contents.

"Yes… you're taking over for the mayor?" Isabelle responded, sounding a bit saddened, though she was aware it was only temporary. She didn't like the sound of someone close getting sick to the point that they couldn't handle their job. Ness nodded.

"I'm Ness, a friend of his. You don't mind, do you?" Ness queried if she cared for him taking over temporarily. The canine shook her head, realizing she had been acting like this was a horrible thing.

"N-no! Of course not, Mayor Ness… I've just never worked with someone who wears a suit and a baseball cap before," Isabelle tried to lie horribly. He raised an eyebrow, looking at his own baseball cap, realizing it probably looked mismatching with a business suit, but he didn't care. It wasn't coming off as long as he could help it. He saw her retrieve a clipboard, aware that she was going to be his assistant for now.

"So, uh… how about I show you around our town?" she offered. He smiled.

"Sounds good," Ness agreed, letting her lead him out the door so they could explore the town of Leaf Scale. The nice weather outside wasn't being wasted so far to him, though he was hoping this wouldn't involve that much paperwork. He could see various houses while being toured through the small town of Leaf Scale. He had met a few of the inhabitants, all anthropomorphic animals that so far had been friendly, though the raven haired boy had one annoying trait from his psionic powers, mind reading whenever he wanted. As long as it wasn't another PSI user it was easy, and he hated hearing a lot of thoughts from random people. It took a good bit of time to take control over the mind reading, but so far the townsfolk weren't disliking him. In fact they all were welcoming him like he had known them for years already.

They stopped when they arrived to the main street of town. He could see a few shops set up, a post office and the museum. It reminded him of Fourside's mall, but he didn't want to remember one of the times his friend had been kidnapped.

"This is where our mayor's funding has aided the most beyond public works projects. He has helped Mister Nook do construction so he could renovate his store. The mayor also loves bringing in things to the museum," Isabelle explained. She was positively radiant, seeing the construction work on a store that was adding on a second floor to the building. It was like she loved being an assistant and talking about the town.

"You like your job a lot. Are you more than just an assistant to the mayor, though?" Ness asked while they walked down the main street. He saw a blush form on her face at the suggestion of a relationship between her and Villager.

"W-what makes you say that?" she stuttered, having to force herself to speak.

"Because, he keeps a picture of you in some dress on his desk," Ness claimed. The two came to a stop in their walk him, standing in front of her. He noticed her eyes swell, looking like she was about to cry a little in joy. She hugged the boy in the red cap.

"I thought he threw it away… I gave him that at his one year anniversary party. I told him how I felt that night," Isabelle sobbed, her tears going onto his red suit, somewhat dampening it. Ness was caught somewhat off guard by her sudden emotional change. He didn't expect to learn more about Villager like this. He rubbed his hand along her back.

"And what'd he do when you told him?" Ness continued. She seemed happy to be hearing the news that he kept the photo.

"He said he didn't want to do anything without being sure. After he got invited, we stayed in touch over letters. I've been trying my best to handle paperwork here for him," Isabelle explained while pulling herself from him, rubbing her eyes, trying to wipe the tears away. Ness was confused somewhat by when she mentioned he talked. He assumed Villager to be a mute, but then again, every person has their reason for speaking or not.

"Th-thank you for telling me… please when you finish here, come back to the office," Isabelle said.

"Okay," Ness nodded, understanding. With that, she left to head back to the office, maybe to reminisce more of her own memories. After having gotten closer in bond terms with the canine, he made his way toward the store being renovated, thinking there might be something inside he could get as a souvenir. Mementos were always nice to have around to him.

Upon entering the store, Ness saw various furniture items and things on display for sale. He saw one item catch his attention, though. It was a baseball for more decoration for a room. He loved baseball personally so it was definitely a perfect souvenir for him. He looked over to the only worker he could see in the store, who was another anthropomorphic animal sitting at a desk, a ring tailed raccoon in a sweater. He was staring down at his desk, looking bored. Clearly he had a slow day today, but he stood up upon seeing the first person enter the store.

"Oh, hello. Nice to have a new face around town. Welcome to my store. I'm Tom Nook," Tom Nook introduced himself. Construction wasn't being done currently, thankfully. Ness shook his hand.

"I'm Ness. Just a temporary mayor," Ness introduced himself, but then Nook pulled his hand away.

"Oh. You are, eh? Well then, I should let ya know that the mayor owes me a lot of money for renovations to his own home," Tom claimed. Ness looked away awkwardly. Money wasn't an issue to him. He was near rich from his past adventure. He didn't like the sound of the store owners tone though.

"How much does he owe?" he hesitantly asked.

"800,000 bells," he angrily declared. Ness's eyes widened like saucer plates. He took his hat off his head, scratching his hair. Barely a few hours in the village and already he was paying off a debt.

"Do you have a phone?"


	4. Mayoral help part 4

After one phone call to his father and a transfer of money from his bank account, he had paid back the money in full and was exiting Tom Nook's store with the baseball souvenir in hand, the tiny sphere being more of a reminder that he had done a lot for his friend right now.

"Thank you, come again!" Tom Nook's voice carried over the air. Ness was angry enough that he wanted to just light the baseball on fire and throw it at the stores window in rage, but he just pocketed the sports item and headed back to the office, not in the mood to be around the crooked merchant anymore.

Once back at the front office, Ness found himself sitting behind a desk that wasn't too far behind the reception counter. Isabelle was not in there for the moment. He had wondered where she went, but he knew he had triggered some old memories of hers. All the raven haired boy could do currently was sign off on various papers. Nothing big, mostly approvals and permissions, though one paper he stopped himself before signing, realizing it was approval for Tom Nook to continue store renovations. Ness casually leaned over and let the file fall into the shredder idly, happy to have some revenge back, knowing that would set back construction plans for a while.

"Excuse me, Mister Ness?" he heard, looking up from the papers, seeing Isabelle standing there with her clipboard.

"Oh hey, Isabelle. What's wrong?" Ness asked.

"It's the museum curator… some people are disagreeing with the new exhibit he wants to include, due to it being too creepy. They need someone to make a decision," the shiatsu explained what he needed to do so far. The red capped boy was noticing a lot of annoying small decisions he had to make and a good chunk of money being siphoned from his own bank account, all in one day. Already it was driving him up the wall. Ness got up, nodding, following her off to get to the museum, wondering what kind of exhibit could be causing problems with the inhabitants of the town.

When they arrived to the museum, they noticed someone standing there, an anthropomorphic owl who was wearing a green bow tie. He looked quite stressed, having been thinking quite a lot over the new exhibit.

"Hi! I'm the temporary mayor. What's the problem?" Ness introduced himself, wanting the curator to get straight to the point. The museum owner led them inside.

"Y-yes. I've heard about you from the others. I'm Blathers, and, well… this is the problem," Blathers explained, leading them into the insect exhibit. They were in a room that was decorated to be spookier. They could see no bugs currently on display. Each exhibit had four rooms to it with various types of species in them.

"What's going to be in this exhibit anyway?" Ness inquired while they stood in the darkish room, though he was noticing a few spiders crawling around on trees and the grass, but they thankfully kept away from the bystanders in the museum by a glass wall, surrounding each biome. Isabelle wasn't entirely sure, either.

"Oh, well this is the spider exhibit. We upgraded it so we could house a new tarantula tree for it," Blathers declared. The two took a step back from the tree he was standing near.

"S-sorry, did you say tarantulas?" Ness repeated fearfully, wondering if he had heard correctly.

"Yes, sir. They are what our town is known for. They only get aggressive if you mess with them at night. They aren't easy to find otherwise," Blathers continued. Ness just rubbed his head, making a mental note that he would leave if he saw one tarantula. He had fought a lot of weird things over the course of his adventures and he drew the line at tarantulas.

"Yeah, sure, it's fine… as long as I don't need to spend another minute in here," Ness agreed. Isabelle showed him her clipboard. He signed off on the allowance of this new addition to the bug exhibit. Blathers was very thankful, but the mayor and his assistant were trying their best to leave quickly.

The rest of the day went calmly from there. Ness was tired. The sun had set a couple of hours ago and he found himself sitting at his desk once again, writing away. He felt like he was back in school trying to improve penmanship. He didn't have any real idea where he was going to stay for the night, though at this rate he would never get to sleep since he had to sign all of this. He was starting to feel like Villager now, and it wasn't enjoyable, but he wasn't alone. The loyal assistant was doing her share of the work too, probably more than she was being paid to do.

"Maybe you should head home, Isabelle? It's my job to handle this anyway…" Ness claimed, though he was realizing she was signing a lot of the documents in his name. The signature was looking pretty similar. He raised an eyebrow, looking to her.

"Um… the mayor was always swamped, so to lessen his work I sign in his place… as him," Isabelle embarrassingly admitted. He was too tired for this right now. He was glad that she did a lot more than her job described, though forging signatures was not what he expected.

"Look, you go home. I'll see you in the morning," Ness insisted. The shiatsu reluctantly nodded.

"Take care, Mister Ness," she said before leaving, the door closing behind her. He heard the lock turn. He went back to his desk in the office and took his red cap off, resting it on the desk before he laid his head on it.

"Need a nap… just… five minutes…" he yawned, his eyelids heavy. Each blink felt harder and harder to resist. Before he knew it, he had fallen asleep, having had his energy drained from the long hours of doing the paperwork, but enough of it was on the desk to practically be a pillow of paper.

Suddenly, Ness was awoken early the next morning by a weird tickling feeling on his hand. His eyes flickered open. He saw nothing. He wondered what he had felt, but he just discerned that it was nothing but an itch that had gone away on its own. He looked at the clock. It was about nine in the morning. He groaned, realizing he slept way longer than he planned. He reached over to grab his hat, but he noticed something furry on it.

"…I-is that…?" Ness stuttered, realizing something furry with a lot of legs that was on his hat, and sadly, his fear had come true. It was a tarantula, immobile, but he was not in the mood to wear it on top of his hat. He quickly smacked it away, sending it flying across the room somewhere, grabbing his hat and running out the front door. It was not the best wake up call for him. However, when he got outside, he bumped into Isabelle by accident.

"Oh! Mister Ness! Sorry, is everything alright?" the assistant asked. Ness did his best to regain his composure, having a thought cross his mind followed by an idea.

"Uh… y-yeah yeah… look… I'm starting to think that… maybe I'm not cut out for this work. I'm not the type of person to just sit behind a desk signing things all day and night," he admitted. She looked disappointed, but she understood.

"It is a hard job. A lot of people think they'd make great leaders… but you were the first person I've met that actually could do it other than our mayor. But he found a lot more joy in it than most, too…" Isabelle admitted that Villager did have more fun being mayor than any other person would. At that point, though, the young boy had an idea.

"Tell you what. Why don't I leave running this town in your hands until he gets back? You're a great assistant. I'm sure you can handle it," Ness suggested, trying his best to just get out of this. He wanted to get as far away from the town of Leaf Scale as possible. She looked shocked at his suggestion.

"M-me? Oh, I don't know, Mister Ness, but if you think I can… I'll get the paperwork for you to sign…" she got cut off by him.

"J-just forge my signature on those, too! It was nice being around," Ness claimed, but before he could run off, he got stopped by her. She was unsure why he was in a hurry, but she wanted him to take something. She pulled out a small box with a nice ribbon tied neatly on it.

"Give this to the mayor for me, please," Isabelle requested. Ness took it gladly, willing to deliver the parcel. With that, he ran off away from the front office. He seemed to get faster and faster, before he suddenly vanished into a portal. Isabelle witnessed his PSI Teleport ability, wondering what he had just done. She shrugged before entering the office.

"I wonder why he was in such a hurry…"


	5. Mayoral help part 5

Ness had reappeared in front of the Smash Mansion, panting tiredly. It had been a long time since he teleported out of his own fruition. It was a bit tiring, but he was relieved, immediately loosening his tie around his neck and heading inside. He went straight upstairs directly to his room, wanting to change out of the suit. He was mayor for a day of that town and he had not enjoyed it entirely, but he was glad to have met some nice people. When he arrived back to his room on the second floor, he saw that the room was empty. He was kind of glad to come across this, just beginning to disrobe the attire.

Once changed into his usual clothing of a blue and yellow striped shirt and a pair of short jeans, he headed downstairs. It was maybe ten in the morning and he had a pretty good feeling where his friend was. On the first floor was mainly bigger doors for various reasons. Each room was personalized on the ground level for their own uses. He entered inside a door at the end of the right hall, finding himself in a huge dining room big enough to hold all of the smashers and then some, but now only a few were in here. He saw Villager sitting at one of the tables alone. He had woken up late, and he was trying to enjoy some cereal for breakfast. Ness could see no tiredness or crankiness on him anymore. Those bags that were under his eyes were entirely gone. He didn't look as zombified now by tiredness.

"Hey, Villager," Ness greeted, taking a seat beside him, surprising his friend. Villager tilted his head, wondering what he was doing back so soon since he was supposed to be gone for another day. While he was still happy to see his friend, he was curious why he seemed a bit enraged.

"Okay… first of all, here's something from Isabelle," Ness claimed, showing him the present his assistant had given him before he left, thinking he would start with this before moving onto his more angry rant. Villager took the small box from him, confused, wondering what she could have sent him. He tugged lightly at the bow surrounding the box. It came off easily, and he picked the lid off. Villager then saw that inside the present was a picture in a frame of him alongside Isabelle surrounded by all of the inhabitants of his village. It was another picture taken from the same party, like the one he had in his room. His attention was mostly affixed on it, but then he looked to his raven haired friend who still didn't seem too happy.

"Now for why I'm angry. I like the people of your town, but when I have to pay off your debt and deal with tarantulas, it isn't worth it!" Ness declared. Villager was surprised that he paid off the debt for him, and the chestnut haired teen had no idea why the tarantula's part was bad. He loved spiders and handling bugs, but that was just him.

"I expect you to pay me back… well, that's what I should say, but what I want to really say is that I've got enough money, I'll never need a job, but I love experiencing things, and I'm glad I could experience being a leader again. I have never been a leader of anything beyond me and my friends on our adventure… but really, I'm not cut out for being a mayor. You're way better at making a whole town happy," Ness exclaimed, apologizing for not being able to keep out the whole two days, but convincing he was nowhere near as mad as he was. Ness stood up, patting his friend on the back, thankful for the experience anyway. He walked away to get on with his day, but as he walked away, Villager looked down at the picture once again a smile forming on his face.

"Thank you… you're a great friend," the voice echoed out. Ness turned around, seeing Villager turned around in his seat, just staring at him with a smile.

"Did you just… talk?" Ness asked. No response, just an awkward silence. The two stared at each other before the boy in the red cap laughed lightly, aware he would get no answer.

"Anytime, buddy," he headed out the door back into the hallway, glad it was done with anyway. He felt calmer and happier, but his thought process of what to do with the day was interrupted by a sudden thump that shook the lighting on the ceiling. He raised an eyebrow, but this was familiar. He went back upstairs to where the rumbling came from.

"What in the name of Eagleland?" Ness quirked, seeing Kirby who was dodging a giant hammer being swung by an oversized penguin in royal red robes and a coat. He was known as Dedede, the king of Dreamland, through some weird monarchy at best. The teenage boy would never understand one thing between the king and his pink puffball of a friend, and that was the fact that Dedede hated Kirby, but the pink sphere treated him like his bestest friend in the world.

"Dang it, quit moving, you pipsqueak!" Dedede roared, pulling his hammer back it charged up, quickly unveiling machinery inside the hammer, like a booster jet to speed it up. He swung, Kirby quickly ducking under it, laughing like it was a fun game. Unfortunately, Ness didn't have the same reaction time, getting hit in the head and being sent flying down the stairs. This gained the two's attention, halting their fight. The penguin wondering what he had hit, Kirby looking down the steps.

"Poyo?"


	6. Attempting to cure part 1

Ness groaned. He felt his head throbbing in pain as he woke back up. He groaned, looking around. He laid on a chair he recognized where he was. It was where most people went after a fight to get treated. He rubbed his head, realizing that he had bandages on it, though it only took a matter of moments to remember what had happened after being knocked out, by King Dedede like that. It was a bit embarrassing, but it was just an accident. He was not really able to muster up the anger about it either.

"Poyo!" the raven haired boy suddenly heard, not able to react before he saw the familiar pink puffball jump into his lap, hugging him. He looked over to his left to see King Dedede beside him as well, looking very bruised and battered.

"Uh… hey, Kirby. Did you bring me here?" Ness asked. The star warrior nodded back. He was relieved that his friend was alright especially after a blow to the head like that. It was scary just thinking about. They heard the king penguin let out a pained groan.

"I-I'll get you back, Kirby…" Dedede forewarned, having been pulverized after assaulting the psychic, in some instance even worse. They saw the door to the room open, and a man entered in a doctor's coat with short brown hair and a big nose.

"Well, glad to see you're awake. You suffered a concussion, Ness. But I'm guessing you knew that already," he joked. He was the Smash Mansion's resident doctor, referred to as Doctor Mario. He was invited not as often as others, but he always came to the smash mansion to treat the other Smashers, at least. Ness put Kirby down beside him.

"Yeah, thanks doc. I appreciate it," he said.

"Just doing my job. Kirby is the one who carried you," the doctor insisted while bringing a tomato with a big M on the front of it to King Dedede and tossing it in his mouth. Shortly after being consumed, the maximum tomato did its job and fully healed the royal penguin like he hadn't been even touched once. Ness got up, stretching.

"Alright. Looks like I owe you one, Kirby," Ness claimed, glad his friend had helped him while the three of them exited the doctor's office, not wanting to keep him held up, Dedede being thrown out before he could start trouble. Kirby smiled, nodding.

"Poooooyo!" the pink sphere blurted out. The boy in the red cap really wished he could read his friend's mind right now, but the head pain made it hard enough to concentrate his mind.

"What were you two fighting about, anyway?" Ness inquired, Dedede reaching into his royal garment's pockets and rummaging around, pulling out various things and dropping them on the hallway floor, mostly very spiky Gordos and other items until he got to an envelope, handing it over.

"The pink puffball got a letter from a friend of his. Looks like my kingdom's having a bit of an issue. I told pint size there to go handle it himself, but he wanted me to come with him," Dedede elaborated. Ness took the letter, aware that like any other royalty in this mansion, the majority did not like to handle their own problems relying on the heroes to handle it, though none of them had minded yet. He began to read the letter.

"Dear Kirby. I know it's been a week or so since I last sent either of you a letter, but it's mostly because I've been busy painting, but while I was trying to show my art around town, I was noticing that a lot of the others were sick, including the ones in Dedede's castle! I tried to help a few with what I could, but me and Waddle Dee can't do much. Please, if you can, come back and help find the source of this odd disease! ~ from Adeleine." At the bottom hand corner of the letter was a small painting of a multi colored star, like some kind of signature. The psychic teen was not entirely sure by what this Adeleine girl meant. He returned the letter to the king.

"Poyo?" Kirby asked while tugging on his friend's pant leg, requesting his aid in this problem. Ness sighed, aware he had already told his friend that he owed him a favor of help for helping him get medical attention.

"Well… might as well. I'll come with you," Ness agreed, Dedede sighing in relief trying to split up from them to get back to his business.

"Have fun with that," he waved them off, Kirby looking sad that the person he considered a best friend wasn't going to come with them, that was before Ness had an idea.

"Wait, Dedede! You have to come with us, too," his voice rung out, gaining the overweight penguin's aggravated attention as he turned around and approached.

"And gimme one good reason I should help you brats with, this anyway?" he demanded.

"Because, if you don't, the kingdom might start to think their king doesn't care… and maybe get the idea that someone else has been saving them from all those dangers of the land," Ness hummed, rubbing a hand on Kirby's head. Dedede cringed, imagining it. That pipsqueak in charge. He was not able to come up with any excuses now. They had just left the doctors, so playing sick was not going to work.

"Hmph… fine! Fine! You got me! Let's get going…" Dedede reluctantly agreed to join in saving his kingdom. Kirby jumped with joy, glad that he could get both of his friends to come. With that, they all headed for the top floor of the Smash Mansion. However, the teenager was starting to question his amount of travelling lately. He enjoyed visiting new locations as much as anyone else, but he was hoping this travel would involve less desk work. When they did arrive to the familiar hallway of doors, they approached a door more close to the stairs. It had a star symbol on the front of it, but someone was standing in front of it, someone slightly bigger than Kirby, but he was wearing a mask that only showed his yellow eyes, and he had a cloak wrapping most of his body.

"Hello."


	7. Attempting to cure part 2

"Oh hey, Meta knight. What're you doing?" Ness asked, seeing the familiar person in the mask standing in front of the portal door that had a star symbol above it. His yellow eyes looked to the three. He clearly had an interest in what they were doing, but like most of the time, the star warrior of a knight knew well beforehand what they were doing.

"I want to accompany you to Dreamland," Meta Knight simply stated. Ness looked to Kirby, letting him decide. The pink puffball spun around happily.

"Poyo!" he agreed, Dedede rolling his eyes, though Meta Knight was thankful that he had not been turned down. Kirby considered a lot of people friends, though even if they threatened him. Ness could never understand why, even if it killed him, and if he tried to find out more from his friends, they either had no idea or wouldn't get a straight answer. The four were all together, ready to go. Ness grabbed the key beside the door and put it into the lock, turning it. The sound of the lock clicking chimed out as he unlocking the door, opening it to reveal another portal inside. The four entered inside, each one separately vanishing. Once they were all gone the door shut behind them with a loud slam.

Once again surrounded by the oddly calming darkness, Ness took a moment to wake back up. He looked around his surroundings, not sure what to expect, but it was bright. He was in a colourful land, the sun being the only thing in the sky currently beyond the one or two clouds. Ness knew that they were on the Planet Popstar. The four of them were in an open field. He then noticed confused looks on the king and Kirby.

"This looks like it used to be farmland…" Ness spoke in realization. This was already a bad sign. A few dead crops lining the area around them, but they were barely noticeable. Clearly there had been no tilling done to the farm since the last time they were here. The young boy could see a small town up ahead. Past that was a huge castle.

"Hey, there's my castle! Let's go check it out!" Dedede excitedly proclaimed. The group thought it would be best to at least check on the town to see how bad this disease was. They began to head to the small town below the castle, but along the way they were noticing odd small things, mostly the occasional dying tree or rotted fruits and empty surroundings that were obscured immensely from the bright colours mostly, but none of it looked good. When they arrived to the small town, Ness could see the streets that were practically empty. Meta Knight kept an observant eye out in case there was a bigger reason beyond disease for the emptiness.

When they arrived to the castle, Dedede seemed overjoyed to be back home in the lap of royal luxury. Ness was really starting to question his connection with his friends if a lot of them had positions of power. He didn't consider the king that much of a friend, but the penguin had saved him before from the subspace problem that had been dealt with a year ago. When they entered the castle, they found a lot of the guards around here. They were mostly Waddle Doos, people that were short in size with a huge eye, though one stood out prominently that had a short sword on his back. He approached the group.

"Oh, your majesty! Thank goodness, you've returned… our land is being plagued!" the Waddle Doo spoke like he had a minor position of authority around the castle. He was one of the head guards. He looked tired though, like all his energy had been pulled out of him.

"Yeah, gimme and Meta here the rundown of what happened," Dedede requested, Meta Knight staying silent alongside the king to listen to what happened. Ness and Kirby on the other hand had other plans, continuing past them while they were distracted and heading into the castle. The two could see the halls being lined with sick guards. They looked either sweating, drained, and or near unconscious.

"Wow… the last time I saw this many people look this bad, Threed was being eaten by zombies," Ness claimed, Kirby nodding.

"Poyo…" the pink puffball, sighed, feeling uneasy. He stuck closer to his red capped friend. The two were wondering what the risk of infection was at this rate of exposure, or if there was some other cause entirely. They arrived to the guards' quarters where needless to say it was overfilled with half the guards in the castle.

"Kirby! You came!" they heard. They could see a girl about Ness's age. She had a red beret on her head with short black hair in a green smock. She looked like she wasn't sick at least, but clearly not happy either. Kirby had a big smile grow on his face before he rushed over to her jumping up and hugging her. She gladly caught him, returning the warm hug.

"And I see you brought a friend?" she asked while holding her friend in her arms. The pink sphere nodded happily as Ness approached, shaking her hand.

"Ado, Ness!" Kirby spoke. This was the first time Ness heard him say more than just poyo. He was aware the young star warrior had not much of a vocabulary, but still. The girl, which Ado was her nickname, giggled.

"I'm Adeleine," Adeleine introduced herself, being an old friend of Kirby and his other friends. She was an artist that could literally make her drawings come to life with her own choice.

"I'm Ness. Can you tell me what's going on?" Ness requested. Most of the guards looked far too sick to get one syllable out, let alone explain what was causing an entire infectious disease to spread through part of the land from plants to the inhabitants. She put Kirby down on one of the beds. The artist sighed, wondering where to begin.

"Well… about a week ago, I was travelling to go paint an image of the desert pyramids. I saw some weird monster running around. It ignored me so I came back to compare it with my past paintings of the pyramids when I saw it around town. Before I know it, I find one Waddle Dee passed out in the streets. So I helped him to his home. But every day, more and more just kept getting sicker and sicker and no matter what, I give them what me and the captain of the guard tried. We just can't do anything to make them feel better," Adeleine elaborated on the full extent of the lethal disease. Ness looked at the bed. There was someone in it that had clearly been gaining the most of her attention. It was a Waddle Dee, someone of Kirby's size, who had a blue bandana on his head. He was the most loyal of servants to the king and he seemed awful.

"How bad has the disease gotten? Maybe we could ask the person that first got sick-" Ness suggested, only to be cut off by the artist.

"He's dead. He was the first of the six who lost their lives to it so far…" Ado sighed. She had to watch the other inhabitants of the town bury their own. This really was bad. Kirby looked depressed to imagine it. The loyal Waddle Dee being another one of a dozen friends he knew in the land, but this one had even joined them on adventures, mostly at the orders of King Dedede. Ness took off his hat, trying to think of what to do.

"Hey… I have healing abilities. I can try and help him… but we need to find this monster and try to get it before it gets worse," Ness insisted. He had a healing factor to his PSI but he never used them in a fight at the Smash Mansion for fairness sake.

"Thank you. I've only seen glimpses of it. I painted this from memory," Adeleine dug around in a nearby bag, pulling out a canvas. She showed it to the teenager who looked over it. The drawn monster looked like it was just some odd shadow creature that was small, with three yellow beady eyes. It was slightly creepy, and Kirby was aware of the danger it posed to the land, but so far it didn't seem to have made his artistic friend sick at all. Ness rubbed his hands together, seeing a light green aura emanate around them.

"Alright. Let's see if I can help."


	8. Attempting to cure part 3

Ness had spent twenty minutes trying to use his PSI Healing on Waddle Dee. He stopped once he had burnt out a chunk of his energy trying to cure whatever it was ravaging the small being's body. He stood up, removing the blankets from him, looking a lot better, actually.

"Wow! I've never felt so alive!" Waddle Dee exclaimed. He felt like he had all his energy back. Kirby was happy that his friend was restored. Adeleine, however, noticed that the psychic boy didn't appear as happy.

"It didn't work…" Ness sighed taking his hat off and wiping some sweat off his forehead. It took a lot of effort and concentration to heal internal problems or deep wounds, but this, he couldn't tell what it was, so instead he was blasting his healing randomly around the short servant's body. Kirby tilted his head, confused.

"But he's standing on his own, and he isn't tired anymore," Adeleine claimed, but Ness knew better. He put his hand to Waddle Dee's forehead, and as expected, he was still burning up with a fever.

"He's still sick. All I did was just give him more energy. It'll probably burn out in an hour, anyway…" the raven haired boy sighed, a bit depressed, knowing he couldn't cure this on his own. He saw Kirby tug on his arm, having that same smile of reassurance he always had.

"Poyo!" the pink puffball said, insisting he tried his best. Ness got a small grin, but was aware that now the only option was to go track down the thing that had spread this disease in the first place. Adeleine didn't look any happier at this realization, either.

"Look, I'm not going to let this go to waste. You guys try and find it. I'll help the captain while I can," Waddle Dee said, jumping down from his bed and heading off to go find the captain of the guard. With the treatment failed, the three headed back to the main entrance. They saw King Dedede and Meta Knight talking to one another. They had heard well enough about what had been going on, the conversation ending when they saw the group.

"Hey, Adeleine! Been a long time," Dedede patted her on the back, appreciative that she had done her best to aid his guards and servants in attempts to cure this disease.

"It has… we need to head to the desert. The thing causing this came from there," Adeleine exclaimed. It was the first place she spotted it aside from the few sightings in the town, but she hadn't seen it in days since then.

"We should not hesitate," Meta Knight said. The group knew time was not something they had a lot of right now. The group of five headed off, leaving the castle courtyard, hoping Waddle Dee and the guard captain could help the sick while they could. The group was being led by Kirby and Ness since one was psychic and could sense things easier. He was a glorified radar, and Kirby wanted to be sure he was safe in case they got attacked by the weird infectious beast. They had no idea what the monster had been doing beyond infecting the town. It could have a lot more powers that they didn't know, but speculation wasn't going to get them anywhere. The group headed north, leaving the town.

It had taken a few hours of walking for the group to arrive to the desert. They could see its vastness already, and they were barely inside it, though the pyramids were in sight. It would take a while longer of hiking before they got there. They could see the usual sand enemies around like mobile cactuses and other monsters. In the meantime, the group had been talking, informing their artist friend where they had been. It was mostly Ness and Dedede explaining it, though. Meta Knight was keeping to himself and his attention on the surroundings, and Kirby's vocabulary was too small.

"It sounds like you guys are having fun, at least. I was worried when I heard you all were leaving again, really… It's good to know you're safe and I can still send letters," Adeleine told them her relief. Ness was kind of curious if she knew the answer to his curiosity behind why the king penguin hated the pink puffball but Kirby had no anger toward him, though while they walked Ness suddenly felt his left foot sink in the sand.

"Oh no!" Adeleine shouted in realization that a sand vortex had begun appearing under their feet. Dedede, Ness and her had been caught in it, Meta knight easily escaping with the use of his wings. Admittedly, Ness always found the winged star warrior terrifying when they were out. Kirby was able to grab the king's hand, trying his best to pull him out while they were sinking deeper, but he wasn't strong enough to, losing his grip and almost falling in himself, but Meta Knight thankfully caught him. Before they knew it, the trio had completely sunk beneath the sand, upsetting Kirby immensely just by watching.

"P-poyo?" he sniffed, upset at the thought of three of his best friends being killed by one small sandpit.

"Do not worry. There are empty caverns beneath here… we should find a safer way in," Meta Knight exclaimed, acting emotionally stable, somehow always keeping calm no matter what danger revealed itself around him. Kirby nodded, getting up from the burning grains of sand and following his masked friend to try and find a safer access to the caverns below.

Beneath the sand, however, Ness, King Dedede and Adeleine found themselves somewhat half buried in sand. They were in an underground ruins, and now they were easily able to pull themselves free since the sand wasn't piling up on top of them as hard now. Ness helped his artist cohort up.

"Thanks…" Adeleine said. Dedede was spitting sand out of his mouth. It was hard to see in this dark underground area, somewhat. Ness extended his hand out.

"PK Fire!" he shouted a light spark of fire, igniting in his hand, creating a light blaze which he was able to hold in the palm of his hand. They could see their surroundings easier now. It was more of the fallen ruins, but beyond that, they could see a tunnel ahead that would allow them to continue on. Ness took point and led them toward it.

"Let's get moving. I don't want more sand to fall in on us."


	9. Attempting to cure part 4

The group of three were travelling in the dark. Ness was leading the way through the ruins with his PSI to act as a torch in his hand. They were safe so far, but there was an awkward silence. Adeleine was walking alongside the teenage boy. The king was a bit behind just in case they walked into a trap in the abandoned ruins.

"So… can I ask you something?" Ness broke the silence between him and the artist. She nodded, uneasy being this deep underground like this.

"Sure. What's on your mind?" Adeleine responded. He cast a quick glance to the overweight penguin who wasn't paying attention to their conversation. He was hoping to finally get an answer to something he had always been curious about.

"How come Kirby adores Dedede? I understand why Dedede hates him, but what is it with them?" the psychokinetic boy questioned. He was hoping she would know the reason behind the two's odd friendship. He had looked at it every way possible and could never come up with a good answer from his searching. The teenage girl seemed confused, but understood his curiosity.

"Dedede doesn't hate Kirby. Honestly, they might be the best of friends I know in Dreamland," Adeleine exclaimed while running her hand along the wall, feeling the dust that had piled up on top of the sand that had seeped in through the occasional crack. Ness didn't entirely believe her, though he had no reason to doubt her answer yet.

"But he's always trying to pound Kirby into the ground," Ness claimed.

"Yeah, but it's just them playing. He hates Kirby ruining his plans, sure. Basically, a long time back, Meta Knight made an attempt to take over Dreamland with some huge ship. Kirby took most of it down, but they wound up in a huge fight. Before Meta Knight could finish him, Dedede smashed him with his hammer and saved him unintentionally. The only reason the king saved him was because a lot of the ship's parts crashed into his castle," Adeleine elaborated in depth, a bit more behind the pink puffball and the king's friendship. Ness was still confused by how exactly one unintentional rescue made the foundation of a great friendship.

"Dedede doesn't admit it, but he's glad to have us as his friends. Ever since that day, Kirby has done nothing but nice things for him as long as he wasn't up to evil stuff," Ado finished explaining. It made sense to Ness now. It was the young star warrior just idolizing someone who saved his life at one point, though the group all came to a halt when they arrived to a big room that was hollow beyond lines of odd hieroglyphs lining the walls. In the centre was something big.

"Is that a rock?" Dedede questioned. Ness shook his head, motioning them to take a step back. He had seen enough weird things on his adventures to know what was alive or not. He pulled back his hand and threw the ball of PSI Fire at it. He watched as the fireball hit against it, but it stuck, burning slightly. They began to see it moving. The rock began to unravel itself, revealing it to be some huge oversized sand beetle. It growled, having two big pincers on its face. It lunged toward them. Ness put up his guard, only to hear a familiar noise.

"Back off you bug!" Dedede roared swinging, his fully charged hammer, smashing the oversized beetle in the head, making it lurch back. The impact cracked the shell on its forehead. The king penguin had a grin on this face.

"Th-thanks, Dedede. I wasn't expecting something that fast…" Ness claimed, getting ready, hoping the three of them could take it on. They heard it let out a ferocious roar in anger before it burrowed underground quickly, Dedede keeping his grip firmly on his hammer. Adeleine kept her back close to Ness to try and keep a watch out for the first sign of it emerging.

"Yeah, well don't think I'll keep saving ya," he reminded. They suddenly saw the ground erupt beneath them. Sand and stone flew everywhere, knocking Adeleine aside as well as the king. Ness however found himself getting knocked straight in the air, the oversized beetle focusing on him.

"PK Flash!" Ness shouted, concentrating, firing a bright green burst of energy that seemed to just static together before it came into contact with the beetle, exploding into a bright flash of light. The others had to close their eyes to shield themselves from the brightness. When the light faded, the raven haired boy slammed onto the ground, groaning. The big beetle was lying on its side, well beyond defeated now.

"Wow… that was amazing," Adeleine exclaimed. Ness groaned, giving a thumbs up.

"Thanks…" he moaned out past the immense pain that was ravaging his side and back right now. Dedede realized that the path ahead was blocked off entirely by a bunch of rocks. This annoyed him somewhat.

"Dang it! We go through all that and we're trapped in some room. Hey, Ness, Ado! Can't you two get us out from down here?" the penguin in red asked while putting his hammer away. The two black haired teens looked to one another. Adeleine was trying to help him stand, but the most she could do was help him to one of the walls for him to lean against. He hurt too much to stand on his own.

"I-If I blow up the rocks, I might sink more sand on us…" Ness moaned. Adeleine looked at his side under his shirt. There were a lot of bruises, some being on his back and arm as well.

"I can't paint anything to get us out of here, either. If we dig out, more sand will pour in. If we blow it up, we might bury ourselves alive. We have to just wait and hope the others find us," the artist sighed, beginning to rummage around in her bag, pulling out some bandages, just some of the many medical supplies she was used to carrying on her travels or adventures with her friends. She did her best to bandage the injuries. Dedede puffed in anger and went to his own part of the room to try and take a nap if he could.

"Sorry for not being of much use. I know, I'm kind of worthless…" Adeleine apologized to the teenage psychic. He looked confusedly at her.

"You can't be worthless as long as you're breathing. Your friends care for you a lot. I once had a great friend that was my neighbour. One day, he went crazy and tried to do a lot of stuff to me and my friends to hurt us. In the end, I beat him up and he ran away," Ness explained a past problem on his adventure. The neighbour, Porky, was a person that he once considered a best friend, but sadly turned on him.

"You can't ever be worthless… as long as you talk to them, they'll be happy to know you every day," he added occasionally, getting a twinge of pain throughout his body.

"I'm sorry to hear that, Ness… thank you, though," Ado told him with a smile, feeling a new comfort of reassurance take her over, though Ness on the other hand. He looked somewhat weak, his red cap resting on his lap, taking deep breaths to try and not black out, aware that he had gotten probably the worst end of the deal. He saw her stand up from alongside him and pull a canvas out of her bag, setting it up. She got her various coloured paints out and began to go to work on her painting.

"Let's see if I can make you feel better."


	10. Attempting to cure part 5

The trio had found themselves stuck underground at a dead end for about an hour now. Dedede was napping in his own part of the room. The giant bug they had defeated laid nearby, deceased. Ness and Adeleine were sitting beside one another, talking idly about their past adventures and experiences to pass the time while thinking of some way to get out She had painted some food for them, though it was mostly just fruits and such.

"And before I knew it, the teddy bear was a pile of fluff… and Jeff couldn't ever sleep safe for a week," Ness finished one of his stories from his prior adventures of a past time when his friends had problems with one another. Adeleine laughed at some of it, enjoying the time she was spending with him.

"Wow. She sounds like the type you don't want angry," Adeleine commented. She was enjoying spending time knowing the teenage psychic, even if it was under awkward circumstances in a practical imprisonment in a dead end rock cave.

"Yeah. Half the time she'd freeze my hat as a joke… wait a minute… that's it!" Ness exclaimed, jumping up eagerly.

"Urgh… will you two pipe down over there?!" Dedede shouted, standing up, his voice booming and echoing throughout the general area. The artistic girl was somewhat confused as well.

"What's it?" she quirked, wondering if he had come up with an idea.

"I know how we can get out. It'll take all of us working together, though…" the psychic explained. The king penguin crossed his arms in a huff, wishing he could just nap again, but the sooner they were out the better.

"Alright. You got me interested, but make the explanation short," Dedede ordered. The young boy stepped in front of the pile of rocks.

"Right. I can freeze the entire wall with my PSI. That will hold it in place for you to smash it. Once there's a hole in it, Ado here can paint something to hold it up so it doesn't collapse on us! We can escape from there," Ness elaborated on his entire plan. He could feel the faint gust of wind coming from the cracks of the rocks, aware the risk of messing up would involve a lot of sand pouring in on their heads since these rocks looked to be supporting the ceiling.

"Alright… sounds like a good plan," the raven haired girl didn't disagree, neither did the king who seemed to be cheered up more by this.

"Smashin' to save us, eh? Well a kings gotta do what a kings gotta do for his subjects," Dedede stretched, and he prepared his hammer. Ness approaching the rock wall and rubbing his hands together a bit nervously. He looked to see the artist setting up her canvas. She pondered for a moment about what would be good to support a frozen pile of rocks. Her eyes lit up with inspiration. As Ness saw it, he knew it was well apparent that she was ready.

"Alright, everyone. Get set…" Ness said. Dedede pulled back, beginning to charge his hammer. The head of the hammer opened up to reveal its powerful backup jet which began to rev up. Adeleine began stroking her brush against the canvas, each strike splattering some paint on the ground, mostly out of haste. Ness looked at both of them, and then concentrated on the rocks, his psychic powers ready.

"PK Freeze!" Ness shouted, firing a bolt of ice that hit against the rocks, freezing a good chunk of the centre and around it entirely. Once he had done his job, he got out of the way. Dedede swung with his fullest force, the sound of his hammer colliding with the ice hard rocks. Chunks and pieces broke apart and flew everywhere.

"You're up, girl!" the king saw her spin her canvas around with the painting done. It was a giant oversized hand that emerged with a big dark outline. It ripped out from the canvas, being just as big as it was depicted to be, and it was floating in the air. Ness was feeling horrified. Dedede wasn't having any better memories, either. They had not had the best experience with giant hands at the Smash Mansion. In fact, no smasher had. They watched the giant hand grip onto the ceiling, doing its best to keep the pressure up so it wouldn't collapse.

"What're you guys looking petrified for? Let's go!" Adeleine declared. The two shook their fears off and nodded. The group bolted straight out, through the open exit. They could see a light at the end of the tunnel, thankfully. They could hear the sound of loud rumbling behind them that indicated that the room had finally caved in on itself. The ceiling above them was starting to seep more sand in, too. Thankfully, they escaped. The three had made it back outside into the big desert, all of them trying to catch their breaths.

"Wow… it worked!" Ness coughed, glad to know his plan had worked, though he was worried that his PK Freeze wouldn't have been thick enough to have held up the rocks. But still, he was happy.

"That was amazing! I never felt that alive before!" Adeleine exclaimed, jumping like she was even more energized after the long run. Dedede looked at her like she was crazy. Life or death situation or not, he hated doing that much exercise. However their attentions were gained. The sun was beaming warmly on them welcomingly, but they could see a pyramid, which they realised that they had just reappeared near. That pyramid one of many that were in the desert.

"Hey, girly… this is the place you saw the monster right?" Dedede coughed. Ness could see the entrance to the pyramid, but it was wide open. Someone had been there already. Maybe it was Kirby and Meta Knight looking for them.

"Y-yeah. Look for small shadows moving," she reminded them of its appearance, Ness taking point on the front of their small group.

"Come on, then. We can't just wait around here," he insisted while fixing his red cap on his head, making sure it was still on right. The three charged inside the pyramid. They had barely escaped their underground imprisonment for five minutes, but here they were heading into another sandy ruin on their own obligation.

"Please, be careful..."


	11. Attempting to cure part 6

The inside of the pyramid was just as well lit inside as it was outside. They could see more of those weird hieroglyphs, aware all treasure in the triangular formation had been looted a long time ago. If not by Dedede and his loyal guards, it would have definitely been looted by random wanderers. They came across three separate pathways to go. They went down the centre thinking it would be better to head to the bigger part of the pyramid instead of the side parts. The first room they found was a big pit that had lines of pillars that were clearly broken. The room had caved in on itself the last time Kirby had come by hunting for crystal shards.

"Hop on, girly. I can get us across," Dedede said. Adeleine didn't disagree. She doubted she could make the jump on her own right now. She had to put her trust into the greedy king. She climbed onto his back. He offered Ness a ride too, so they could all get across at once.

"I know you have a limit, Dedede. I'll be fine, go," Ness insisted. He was probably a lot better at jumping alone, and he didn't want to add unnecessary weight to the penguin. Dedede nodded, taking a step back. The teenage artist held on tight as the king made a running leap, taking in a deep breath as he jumped, going over like an over sized balloon gently floating across. He landed on the other side, letting her off safely. Ness had to make one jump at a time. It wasn't the hardest he had done, a lot worse in terms of platforming. When he made it to the other side, he had a smile, though the group was distracted by the sound of someone's voice.

"Stand down!" the familiar voice rung out.

"Was that Meta Knight?" Ness questioned. The others didn't disagree. The voice was exact. They dashed into the next room through the dusty halls. The sand was prominent here too, being in random piles everywhere. They couldn't go one step without some of the small grains getting kicked up. They arrived to a new room that was big in size. It had four more cracked pillars supporting the ceiling. The room should be entirely dark, but it was currently being illuminated by torches like some trap was activated upon being entered, judging by how the main floor was like a mini pit. They saw Meta Knight with his blade drawn, clashing with two oversized knights. They looked almost like they were made of sand. One took a slash at him. He blocked it, but the other took a swing, cutting his right wing. Meta jumped back, groaning.

"Ey, get off him!" Dedede shouted. Before anyone else could do anything, the overweight penguin dove down, his hammer drawn. He slammed the head of it on top of one of the sand knights, crushing it and making it explode into more sand.

"Nice work!" Ness cheered. Meta Knight was somewhat relieved that they had appeared just in time to break the stalemate.

"Thank you…" Meta Knight panted. Adeleine and Ness jumped in as well to help, though they saw the sand left behind from the sand knight turn into another sand knight, like it regenerated with no damage sustained.

"Where's Kirby?" Ness and Adeleine asked simultaneously, somewhat casting a look to one another for the similar worries, different minds that think alike. The short knight pointed ahead to the other side where another doorway was.

"We found the monster, but it made these things and fled. Kirby pursued it," Meta Knight elaborated. It looked like they would be here a while dealing with the two sand knights if they just kept coming back with no method to keep them down permanently. The artist girl looked too worried for her friend, but she had an idea.

"Ness! You should go help Kirby. I can help these two keep fighting," the raven haired girl declared while pulling out a small canvas and her paintbrush. Ness knew she could probably put a lot more effort in aiding them, but he was aware about the risk of letting the monster that caused the minor plague escape. He nodded.

"Alright. Stay safe you guys," Ness told them before running past the sand knights. They did try to swing at him but they wound up colliding blades with one another, missing entirely. When he reached the other side, he had to pull himself out of the small pit to get to the door, just charging down the hall as fast as he could. He passed through multiple rooms, all of them being emptier than the next. Finally, he reached the end where he was relieved to see the familiar star warrior.

"Kirby!" Ness called out, seeing the pink puffball standing there. His friend looked focused, though he knew something bad was going on. He ran to him, assuming it was safer for them to be together than apart at this moment.

"Poyo!" Kirby said, happy his friend was safe, presuming this meant his other friends were entirely safe as well. The room had one thing prominent in it, though. It was a giant statue that was holding two giant stone swords. Ness realized what his friend was being cautious about. He set his eyes upon the tiny shadowy creature, its three beady eyes staring at them from across the room. It came off as not that menacing, though it was tiny, even shorter than the pink star warrior.

"Should we kill it, or capture it?" the psychic asked. It was an awkward staring contest, but he knew there was a reason his partner had not gone charging straight at it.

"No-hurt…" Kirby spoke. His small vocabulary allowed him to get that much out. They watched the tiny shadow monster crawl up the statue, while they were distracted. It didn't seem as scary as half the castle inhabitants made it out to be. But then Ness saw it reach the head of the statue and crawl in one of the eyes like the stone they were made out of didn't stop it.

"Oh, what in the name of Master Hand?!" Ness screamed, seeing the eyes of the statue glow bright yellow. They felt the pyramid rumble somewhat as its arms began to move. The ancient architectures, two blades being made out of stone, looked like they could still hurt a lot. The tiny shadow had possessed the entire statue.

"Poyo! Poyo!" Kirby jumped up, wanting him to use his PSI to give him a power. His teenage friend nodded.

"PK Fire!" Ness shouted, making a small ball of fire in his hand, letting the short pink star warrior inhale it. Upon gulping, he suddenly got a blazing crown appearing on his head, his pink limbs blazing with fire. They saw the statue pull back, getting ready to swing.

"Here it comes!"


	12. Attempting to cure part 7

Ness and Kirby quickly moved out of the way. The statue swung its huge stone sword. It missed them, but a gust of sand kicked up from the wind, blinding them somewhat, but they withstood it. The statue was thankfully slow as it was trying to raise its blade back from the ground it had just damaged. Ness darted straight for it, jumping up and grabbing onto the back of the sword. Kirby was acting like a distraction. The head of their opponent stared right at the puffball who then threw a big ball of fire, hitting it in the chest. The statue was barely affected.

"Wh-whoa!" Ness gritted his teeth, trying to balance on the stone sword while it was being raised. He couldn't get any further up before he slipped off, falling to the ground. His arm hurt on impact, but he quickly got up, seeing Kirby charge toward the statue, jumping up and turning into a fireball, dashing toward it, slamming head first into it and cracking part of it, but it swung in retaliation, hitting the young star warrior and sending him flying across the room before he crashed onto a pillar, forcing him to lose his firepower. The raven haired boy saw the other stone sword coming down to try and decapitate him. He quickly got up, losing his hat in the process. He watched the red cap float away, but he decided to just ignore it for now and get it later, as long as it wasn't too heavily damaged from the fight.

"Are you okay, Kirby?" Ness called out, but his eyes peeled to the crack on the statue's chest to see that it was beginning to heal itself, just like those sand knights he saw Meta Knight fighting earlier. He wondered how they could destroy it. They needed to do a lot more damage than just cracking it.

"P-poyo…" Kirby coughed, getting up, still full of determination. The two looked to one another. Ness ran his hand through his own dirty hair to get it out of his eyes. He had an idea though. He waited patiently, seeing the colossal statue swing both its swords simultaneously. The young boy quickly dived for his pink friend, tackling him out of the way. The swords hit the ground, cracking the sand and stone heavily, but with how long it took to wind them up in the first place, he could hopefully put his plan to use.

"Okay, Kirby I have a plan. But you just have to trust me, alright?" Ness requested his friend's full trust. Kirby nodded, prepared to do whatever he asked if it gave them a chance. Ness stood up, putting his focus in as the statue was prying its swords from the ground.

"PK Flash!" Ness shouted, unleashing a bright green light. It was looking like a mass of bright energy, clearly not well in control. Kirby knew what he had in mind, smiling before opening his mouth and beginning to inhale the huge amount of psi. It took some effort, but he was able to keep the energy inside. He swallowed, the pink puffballs eyes shimmering slightly he felt a new wave of energy overtake him, beginning to look somewhat unstable, flashing various colours.

"You go first, and I'll hit em with my strongest power next," Ness reassured his plan would go fine, though seeing the statue readying its next attack worried him. He quickly moved to take cover behind the nearest pillar. Kirby stood in front of the statue, looking happy with the energy coursing through him. The enemy raised both its swords, ready to strike again. Kirby jumped into the air, unleashing his full power from his Crash copy ability. He spun around as a massive burst of energy began to erupt from around him. Big chunks of the floor and walls were being torn up by the energy blast. The statue was unable to counteract. Each second the massive wave of power injured it, making more and more cracks form all around him. The left arm of the statue broke off, crumbling onto the ground. The right one fell shortly after. The head of the statue was beginning to crack.

Kirby ran out of energy, collapsing to the ground, panting. He was tired, to the brink of him just wanting a nap or another snack to refill his energy. The statue was beginning to repair itself already, the arms trying to rise off the floor to reattach to the statue, but it appeared to be prioritizing the limbs instead of its own body. Ness came out from his hiding place focusing his PSI which ate up a lot of his energy.

"PK Rockin!" he roared unleashing a huge flurry of blue, yellow and red PSI that flew straight toward the oversized stone enemy, exploding on contact. More sand and dust kicked up from the effect. It was his strongest PSI attack. He didn't like to use it unless it was in bad situations with formidable or huge groups of foes, due to how much it drained him. He fell down beside his short friend, seeing the dust beginning to clear.

"Wow… it worked," the young smasher said in relief. The statue and the wall it was attached to was entirely in shards, destroyed from the two's super strong attacks. Both of them though were noticing a lack of the shadowy creature that had possessed it in the first place.

"Po… Poyo?" Kirby worriedly looked to his friend while forcing himself up on his feet. It hurt to stand, but it was a pain he was used to. He could tolerate a lot more than just that. Ness approached his red cap that was lying upside down with a few new scratches on it to boot, but he didn't mind. It had survived a lot worse punishment over the years. He realized that something was inside his hat, though. It was the shadow monster that was unconscious inside it.

"We got it! Kirby, we got it!" Ness excitedly yelled, revealing the creature in his hat. Kirby was overjoyed, jumping up and hugging his friend, his tiny pink limbs clinging onto him with a smile.

"Poyo Ness!" he cheered, hoping now they could head back to the castle and cure his friend and the other inhabitants. Ness let Kirby onto his back, thinking he could spare a piggyback ride, knowing how tired he was. The two began to make their way back down the hall they came from.

"Thank goodness, there you two are," Adeleine's familiar voice rang, seeing Ness and Kirby return. They could see the others who had been doing their own fair share of fighting. She looked not too injured. The worst injury visible on her appeared to be one big cut on her cheek. The rest of her injuries were just bruises.

"We were stuck fighting these dumb sand knights. They just kept splittin' into more! But then, they just suddenly fell apart," Dedede explained. He looked not that bad in terms of bruises, but he had his own fair share of cuts, looking proud to have won that fight.

"It appears you captured the monster. Excellent work," Meta Knight commented, noticing the unconscious shadow monster inside the hat, though it looked like it was enjoying its slumber.

"Yeah, thanks. Err… do you have anything to put it in? I want my hat back on my head," Ness requested. He didn't feel safe carrying a possessive monster freely in his favourite possession. Adeleine nodded, digging around in her small bag. She had a lot of various supplies from her journey. She pulled out a small jar she used mostly for mixing paints, but it was clean from not being used recently. She let him dump the monster inside it, and after which she quickly plugged the top of the jar with the cork. Ness fixed his hat on his head. Kirby was glad though to see all his friends together and safe.

"Let's get back to the castle and try to treat this."


	13. Attempting to cure part 8

The group had backtracked their way through the entire desert, though along their walk back, Ness was keeping his attention on the shadow creature in a jar. It had woke back up, and it was not really looking too active. Its three tiny eyes looking around everywhere. They were thankful it couldn't possess glass jars like it did to the statue earlier. When they arrived back to the castle, the group could see the captain of the guard, Waddle Doo, lying in front of one of the few trees outside the entrance to the castle. He looked like he had deteriorated from the time they were last there. He looked like he couldn't get up anymore. His energy was drained.

"Whoa, Waddle Doo! What happened?" King Dedede asked. The Waddle Doo coughed his head leaning back on the tree.

"My energy is gone. I am glad you captured the beast, your majesty…" he was thankful. Meta Knight and Dedede were trying to get him up so they could get him inside. Ness, Kirby and Adeleine were looking to one another fearfully, wondering if this had gotten worse while they were gone. The king carried one of his most loyal guards inside the castle, the others following. They found Waddle Dee as well, lying near the entrance. He looked like he had fainted. The overweight penguin rested the captain of the guard, down by their blue bandanna wearing friend. Adeleine felt his head. It was still very warm.

"He's burning up…! Ness, what are we going to do? We caught it, but how do we cure them?" Adeleine worriedly asked. They had subdued the beast and captured it alive. None of the five of them were sick either, like they were immune.

"We need to find out how it poisons them, then I can focus my healing more and it might heal them," Ness explained while looking at the shadow monster. Its three beady eyes stared back at him. It looked a little cute, really at this close. The dark shadowy color to it was actually fuzzy fur. He still didn't want to touch it with his bare hands if he could avoid it.

"So someone has to risk themselves to test it?" Meta Knight suggested, Kirby jumping.

"Poyo!" the pink star warrior volunteered, but his artistic friend patted his head. She knew he was too injured to undergo a dangerous disease, though Dedede was having an anger boiling in him. His subjects were either dying or near death now. Normally he was lazy, but he knew his subjects didn't care for him blindly for the fact that he was the ruler due to a monarchy. He knew they would give their lives up for him. Still, in the end it was looking like he would have no kingdom to rule.

"I say we just smash the darn thing!" Dedede shouted, his hammer raised angrily, startling the others, Adeleine and Kirby moving aside. Ness stepped back away from the angry penguin. He tripped over his own feet, dropping the jar. It didn't break, but it rolled on the ground a bit.

"King Dedede, halt!" Meta Knight implored, his sword drawn, warning the king that he would not be against assaulting him to get him to calm down. Dedede held his hammer high it was fully charged, and hurting his arms the longer he held it like this. He let out a huff of anger, retracting the charge and dropping his hammer on the ground, giving in. His faithful knight sheathed his sword.

"Uh… guys?" Ness suddenly spoke, gaining the others' attention. He picked the jar back up. He had noticed something odd about the tiny shadow monster. It looked like it was crying its tiny beady eyes out, like it had been startled from the jar shaking, let alone the in comparison huge penguin trying to hurt it.

"Poyo-sad?" Kirby took the jar from his friend, seeing the tears that looked thicker than usual tears. The pink puffball took the cork off the jar and pulled the shadow monster out, its fur feeling nice on him.

"Kirby! Are you insane?!" Adeleine said, worried about the risk of the monster fleeing again, but her fears were extinguished when they saw the star warrior petting the head of the shadow creature. The jar had the bottom filled with the tears from it, though its beady eyes had stopped crying upon being stroked reassuringly.

"I have an idea…" Ness smiled. He went over to Waddle Dee going on one knee beside him and tilting the jar, letting the small amount of water in it drip out onto the blue bandanna wearing guard. He felt his forehead. It took only seconds for the fever to go down. They then saw his eyes open.

"Oh… hey guys… I feel a lot better," Waddle Dee finally talked. He seemed a lot better, even able to stand on his own and saluted the king. Meta Knight looked to the tiny creature, trying to ponder why it was so strange. The king picked his loyal subject up and threw him in the air, catching him. He felt relieved, hugging him in joy.

"You're cured! We did it!" Dedede laughed. Waddle Dee had never seen the king so passionate about his subjects before. Ness looked at the jar of water. There was a lot it in it. If all it took was a few drops to cure, then healing everyone seemed easy. He smiled, looking to the artist and Kirby. They looked like the weight of the world had been removed from them. The psychic boy poured a few drops on the captain of the guard, and similarly, he miraculously recovered in seconds.

"Here, take this and go around treating everyone," Ness ordered, handing the jar over. The captain of the guard nodded.

"Thank you for saving us," he extended his gratitude to the heroes before he ran off to begin treating the others. Ness looked over to Kirby who seemed to have grown close to the tiny creature that was now cuddling him, even though an hour ago it had tried to kill them.

"What are we going to do with it?" Ness asked. He saw Adeleine take it from her pink friend, letting it rest in her hand. It seemed a lot friendlier, but it was still not safe to leave unattended.

"I think I'll keep it. I could always use some company when travelling while the others are away," the raven haired girl said while scratching its head. She knew that letting it roam the land on its own would be disastrous. Kirby felt sorry for the fact that his friend got left out on his adventures a lot, but he was glad she got to be with him on this one. He just wished it had been less catastrophic. She looked to her friends, a bit saddened, knowing that with the plague on the land being cured, this meant her friends were going to go back to what they were doing before at the Smash Mansion.

"Ness… can I talk to you privately?" she requested. He was confused by her request, but he nodded, agreeing to this. He walked away, letting Kirby, Meta Knight and the king talk to Waddle Dee so they could make sure he was one hundred percent alright.

"What's on your mind, Ado?" Ness attempted to query once the two were out of earshot from the others.

"Well… I'm glad I got to meet you. You're interesting and great. I'm glad we're friends, and I think you're one of the fastest people I've grown attached to… it gets lonely without those guys around," Adeleine began looking at her friends, Kirby, Meta Knight, Waddle Dee and Dedede. She had another friend, too, but that friend was long gone. Ness was so far following her explanation, taking his hat off to brush some dust off. She rubbed a finger through the tiny shadow creature's head. It enjoyed being petted.

"I want you to do me a favor. Kirby likes you a lot and clearly trusts you. Please protect them for me. I want to make sure someone is watching over them. Even Meta Knight needs help sometimes. Promise me you'll help them if they need it?" she pleaded. He was aware at what she was getting at, knowing how she didn't get to see them that often. Clearly they were close enough to practically be their own kind of family.

"Sure. I promise," Ness agreed, nodding, promising to take care of her friends if they needed it. She dug around in her pocket and pulled out a feather that was rainbow colored. She handed it over to him as a memento.

"That's a feather from Dyna Blade. I usually use it to write my signature on my paintings, but you deserve it… Thank you for everything," the artist told him, before wrapping her arms around him, hugging him. He smiled, patting her back, though the two's attention was drawn when they heard footsteps. They saw the captain of the guard come rushing out with a bunch of the loyal servants. They all looked completely cured and they looked ready to celebrate. They all swarmed around the heroes, cheering their heroes in joy. Adeleine had to hang on tight to her new pet to make sure it didn't get startled again, but it seemed to be enjoying the cheers.

"Hah, my subjects! I, the great King Dedede, saved you all!" Dedede tried to take all the credit, but Kirby was drawing most of the attention. The king though still got his own fair share of praise.

"I think it's time for us to go," Meta Knight commented. Ness didn't mind celebration parties, but they had been in Dreamland for a long time. It was time to return to the Smash Mansion.

"Please be safe, you guys," Waddle Dee told them as they saw a bright yellow Warp Star come down from the sky. Kirby could summon this star whenever he wanted. The pink puffball jumped up, grabbing on, holding it tight. Dedede and Meta Knight grabbing hold as well, Ness coming and grabbing onto the bottom part of the star.

"You better keep your promise, Ness!" Adeleine called to him. She looked happy though to see her friends, nonetheless. He gave a thumbs up with one hand.

"I will!" Ness laughed as the Warp Star began to take off with the four on it, flying high in the air, going faster and faster by the second. Before the subjects knew it, they saw the group vanish. Adeleine and Waddle Dee looked to one another, thinking they could still enjoy the party. She was happy to be with her new pet, knowing she and Waddle Dee would see their friends again one day.

"I'm going to miss them…"


	14. Nursing aid part 1

The group had ridden the Warp Star all the way back to the Smash Mansion, though the problem with the Warp Star was that its landing was never soft. They crashed into the ground outside the mansion in a minor explosion, kicking up a lot of dirt. Meta Knight had jumped off the star thankfully and was floating down with his injured wings, but he was able to escape safely. Kirby had jumped off and took in a breath of air to float down, with Ness holding onto his feet. When they landed they saw a small crater left by the now broken Warp Star. Dedede lay in the pit groaning with some new bruises. They saw Doctor Mario sitting on the steps by the entrance. He was trying to just enjoy the night before bed, but he sighed, knowing a doctor never got a break.

"That was a lot of fun going to Popstar with you guys," Ness said, thanking them for the fun time. Kirby seemed happy.

"Poyo!" he chimed while Doctor Mario was throwing the king a maxim tomato he always carried on him in case of emergency, the king climbing out of the pit, groaning.

"We thank you for your services to us. We could have been in trouble if you had not aided," Meta Knight extended his gratitude to the teenage boy. Ness patted Kirby's head.

"It was nothing. It's fun to hang out without fighting," Ness responded, insisting it was no problem. He stretched.

"I'm going to go to sleep now. Take it easy," he bid them farewell before heading back inside the Smash Mansion, leaving them to be treated by the doctor, knowing how long it would take for them all to get full workups to make sure they were all healthy and didn't need more than tomatoes. They were happy that Popstar was safe. When Ness got back to his room, he took his red cap off his head and laid it on the nightstand. He wondered where his roommate was, though, as the other bed was empty. He shrugged, beginning to change into his pajamas, though shortly afterwards he heard the door open.

"Oh hey, Link. Long day?" Ness asked, seeing his roommate, a boy in a light green tunic, white tights and a yellow belt buckle. He had messy blonde hair and a green hat on. He looked annoyed, though. He was Toon Link to the other Smash Mansion members. He was similar in age, being a good swordsman, but he looked utterly drained today.

"Ugh… just another training session…" Toon Link claimed, flopping down on his bed face first, wanting to just go to sleep. His psychic friend didn't think much of it, aware how tired he got from training. Ness crawled into his own bed, pulling the blanket on himself, wanting to get a full night's rest, his energy drained from the long time he had spent on Popstar, thinking he would get checked up by the doctor tomorrow.

Ness slept through the night peacefully; no interruptions, no surprises in his bed, and no loud noises from neighbouring smashers. He woke up later the next day. He could see from a clock on the wall that it was about eleven in the morning. He smiled, getting out of bed, stretching, though his roommate was still asleep, his blankets messed up like he had a rough night. Ness shrugged, just grabbing his red cap and fixing it on his head. He had no fights planned for today. He wanted to get some late breakfast, leaving his room to head downstairs to the dining hall. He arrived to see that it wasn't that full, but there were still a good amount of people there for some early lunch. The raven haired boy grabbed what was available for his own early lunch, which was at most a sandwich and a side plate of salad. He took the first available table which was mostly empty aside from one person sitting there, which was Doctor Mario.

"Morning doc. How are ya?" Ness greeted the familiar doctor who looked somewhat begrudging to the day ahead. On top of it, he had not had that much sleep last night. The doctor rubbed his forehead sorely, seeing the young associate take a bite of his sandwich while waiting for a response.

"Could be better. I got a lot of appointments today for people needing to be seen, those being checked up after some tests, and that's not if someone comes in with a sword stuck through their leg… again," Doctor Mario complained. He had a lot of plans today, mostly with patients. He was a bit overstressed as result. He pulled a bottle of pills out of his pocket, taking one of the many inside for his headache. He apparently got them often.

"Aren't you really well paid?" Ness quirked, his mouth half full. The Italian doctor waved his hand.

"Paid well enough to afford anything. But money, sometimes it isn't enough to keep someone going constantly. It's times like this I wish I had a nurse to help," Doctor Mario exclaimed, groaning. His migraine hadn't calmed down that much from the medicine. Ness decided to help him.

"PK Heal," the psychic boy calmly said, his left hand glowing bright green. He let the palm touch the side of the doctor's head.

"H-hey, what're ya… oh, wow," he said. Once Ness removed his hand, the doctor felt slightly more energized, his headache completely gone. He was astonished. He had treated the children of the Smash Mansion a lot, but he never knew any had this kind of ability.

"You're welcome," Ness pre-emptively said, taking another bite of his food. He wasn't the biggest fan of salad, but had been scolded enough over the years to know why he needed to balance his diet. There were already a good few health nuts in the mansion.

"Welp, you're hired. Come to my clinic after you finish eating," Doctor Mario declared, getting up and leaving the table. The raven haired boy stared at him as he left. He felt confused, gulping, but after a second of thinking, he realized what he had just been hired to do.

"Well… Mom always wanted me to be a doctor."


	15. Nursing aid part 2

Ness had done like requested and walked to the clinic on the second floor of the Smash Mansion. When he arrived, he saw Doctor Mario preparing himself for the day, mostly fixing his hair in a mirror like the clinic was his real room instead of the one he was actually assigned.

"So what do you need me to do again?" Ness asked. He knew his healing powers could be useful, but if they were strained constantly, they would overtime get weaker without rest, but he doubted he would spend all his energy in such a short time span. The doctor let him come inside and he presented him an odd blue uniform.

"You're going to be my assistant. But since you don't have a legal medical degree, I have to classify you as nurse," Doctor Mario explained. Ness gave him an unamused look. He had done a lot of weird things on his own adventure, but being a nurse was not one of them.

"Am I going to be paid for this?" he asked receiving a nod from the Italian doctor.

"Of course. I owe you a lot for helping to take some of the stress out of my day," he declared. The raven haired boy just headed into the nearby room to change into the nurse scrubs. He was aware that he was helping a lot lately. He wasn't as good as a friend with the doctor. He got along better with the other adult smashers, but Doctor Mario was an odd one. He specialized in so many things on the medical field that it was ridiculous, yet he acted like it was all bundled into one. Ness didn't let it harp on his mind too much. Once he was changed into the scrubs, he stepped out. It was mostly just a solid blue coloured shirt and matching pants. He made sure his red cap stayed on his head. Now it was all a matter of waiting for one of his patients so he could be put to the test, though they saw a surprise enter through the door.

"Um, can we get some help?" they heard, seeing a familiar tall plumber in a green hat and shirt with overalls on. He was Luigi, the second banana of the Mario brothers. The Italian had a problem though. It was easy to see. He had a gooey bomb stuck on the palm of his hand, and his hand was stuck on the back of a girl that was in a tight blue Zero Suit, her blonde hair in a ponytail. She didn't look too happy. She was Samus Aran, a galactic bounty hunter, the one person in the Smash Mansion that no one wanted to anger. Doctor Mario rolled his eyes. Another gooey bomb mess. It was common to him. The two went and took a seat on the examination table.

"So, uh… how did this happen?" Ness questioned. Luigi took his hat off, resting it beside him, while the doctor went digging around his drawers for the right equipment to handle this.

"Well, we were having a brawl with fox. I tried to throw it at him, but he reflected it at me, so I tried to get it off me by putting it on her and it wouldn't come off either of us," the green plumber elaborated how the two wound up together. Brute strength wasn't enough to separate them, and as result the two lost to fox.

"How come you're here anyway, Ness?" Samus responded. She didn't mind the kids of the Smash Mansion. In fact out of everyone there the children were probably the ones she got along best with, even her roommate who was somewhat older than the other teens. They had a lot in common to get along about.

"Oh, well, err… I'm a nurse, so Doctor Mario can get some help. …so the gooey bomb is inactive, right?" Ness answered. He wasn't hearing any beeping like the bombs normally made before detonating. Then again, that was probably why the two wanted it to be removed from them. Everyone loved avoiding an explosion if they could.

"Yeah. Just get it off us," the blonde girl insisted. They saw Doctor Mario approach, scratching his chin.

"Hey, Ness. Can you freeze the bomb?" he requested. His assistant nodded, reaching to the gooey bomb but making sure he didn't get stuck with the two either.

"PK Freeze!" Ness let out a light burst of ice that froze the gooey bomb solid. It was cold on Luigi's hand and Samus's back shivered a bit, feeling the block of ice sticking them together. The doctor pulled out a small hammer, reaching up and tapping the bomb. It fell off, clattering, only leaving light shards of ice behind. The two were relieved.

"Wow… thanks a lot," Luigi said in relief, brushing the leftover ice chips away. Samus getting up and stretched. She pulled out a few gold coins and gave them to the doctor.

"Yeah, now I'm going back to training. Take care, Ness," Samus bid them farewell before she left, Luigi grabbing his green cap and leaving as well now that the medical situation had been defused, literally. Doctor Mario handed over a few coins to Ness before pocketing them. He went over and grabbed the ice block of a bomb. He went to the window, opening it before chucking the frozen bomb out the window.

"The second that thaws it'll detonate," he said before going back to his chair and taking a seat. Ness smiled, enjoying this so far. It was very easy to be a doctor in the mansion. He put the coins away and went to cleaning up the rest of the mess.

The day went calm so far, but they saw another person enter. It was a woman in a pink dress that was of pure royalty. She had long flowing blonde hair that reached halfway down her back, with a small crown on her head. She was Princess Peach of the Mushroom Kingdom. She looked relatively healthy though.

"Oh hi, Peach! What are you doing here?" Ness excitedly greeted. He loved seeing the princess. She reminded him a lot of his mother, she was very caring and gentle to most of the smashers. Doctor Mario looked happy to see her, too.

"Hello, Ness. What a pleasant surprise to see you here. I'm here for my test results," Princess Toadstool claimed while taking her seat on the examination table. The raven haired boy had a bright smile on his face.

"Hey, Ness. Let's talk privately for a second," Doctor Mario insisted to his assistant. He nodded, following the doctor into the nearby room. This did leave the princess looking nervous to twiddle her own thumbs. When the two got their privacy, the Italian doctor handed over a folder.

"I… need you to be the bearer of news today…" he claimed. Ness raised an eyebrow, opening the file to view the test results. His eyes went wide, reading what they said.

"Oh… um… o…kay… I'll go tell her…" the young boy agreed. He felt awkward just attempting to do this. He closed the file and headed back to Princess Peach. He didn't know how to feel about this news, but he saw she was nervous, seeing how she was playing with her hair to try and calm down. It wasn't the first time he saw her like this either.

"You came in to be tested a few days ago, because you felt sick and were feeling tired, right?" Ness questioned. She nodded.

"Is it bad?" Peach wanted him to speak it up. She was afraid of his answer, though he was glad she wasn't questioning why he was acting like the doctor. He rubbed the back of his head, trying to find the right words for it, until he let out a quick sigh.

"Well, Peach… you're pregnant."


	16. Nursing aid part 3

"Wh-what?!" Princess Peach said in shock, hearing the news Ness had just delivered her. He was kind of forced into this position, though Doctor Mario was in the other room relaxing at not being the bearer of good or bad news.

"Yeah, you're pregnant… err, congratulations," Ness repeated, hoping she wasn't too shocked by this. He was more worried about what the pregnancy would do to her. He loved spending time with her after all, but that was mostly in terms of aiding in baking for parties or chatting whenever she needed someone that wasn't a foot high wearing a mushroom cap for conversation. The princess rubbed her head. She seemed to be giving mixed emotions though.

"Is something else wrong? I mean, if you're worried about how far along you are, it's only about a month along…" the psychic teen explained looking at the file again. He was wondering how the hero that saved her a lot would react to the news. He knew how much Mario liked spending time with her, too. Princess Peach made sure Doctor Mario wasn't coming to intrude on the news. The girl in pink swallowed her fear.

"I, um… I made a mistake…" she sniffed, looking upset. He took a step back nervously. She was odd when emotional, but he knew he had to reassure her it was fine. He rubbed his hand on her back, gaining her smile.

"I thought you'd be happy to have a baby out of everyone. I know Doctor Mario is Mario's cousin, but I'm sure he'd be happy to help, too," Ness claimed, aware that the medical professional was just a cousin to the famous plumbers. She shook her head, having a light blush to her cheeks, wondering if she could converse with him about this.

"Well… a few weeks ago I lost badly in a tournament. So I went back to my room to try and cheer up. Wait, do you even know what I'm talking about?" Princess Peach responded, wondering if the raven haired boy even knew what caused pregnancy. She didn't want to accidentally unveil that sort of information. Ness had a raised eyebrow.

"Yes, princess, my dad talked to me about sex a year ago. So continue?" he responded, wanting her to just continue the explanation, seeing an odd look from her. She ignored it, thinking his father knew best.

"R-right. Link came to my room to return my crown. He's just so calm and reassuring. He wanted to make sure I wasn't that badly hurt, and one thing led to the other…" Princess Peach stammered off, beginning to remember it all. She did remember the vivid image of her escorting Link out of her room. There were two Links in the mansion, Toon Link and Adult Link. Usually the two were easy to separate due to age. Ness realized what she meant by mistake now.

"Ohhh… oh… Well, tell him I said congrats," he told her. She didn't seem to want to spread the news immediately. He was really starting to see why Doctor Mario didn't want to get involved with breaking news to patients. the fact that they both knew her so closely made this awkward. The princess stood up, patting the young boys head.

"I need some time to think about this, okay? Please don't tell anyone else…" she begged.

"I won't," Ness nodded, claiming that doctor patient confidentially would be covered. He then got pulled into a hug. Her dress felt soft the smooth, and silky. The feeling of the texture of her gloves caressed him.

"Thank you. You know you'll always be my favorite psychic…" Princess Peach giggled before she broke the embrace and left the clinic, leaving him standing there holding her file.

"How many psychics are in this mansion?" Ness wondered aloud, seeing Doctor Mario step out of the other room after she left, looking glad that it went well. He patted his assistant on the back.

"Good work, nurse. I was worried she'd start crying and never stop," Doctor Mario joked, taking the folder from him to put it away. Ness was thrown a few more coins. So far payment had been good. He put them away, though he was worried about how this would all turn out as long as he wasn't caught in the middle. He didn't care, but he had a bad feeling. The doctor and his nurse were interrupted by a loud explosion that did ring familiar.

"Whoops…" Doctor Mario coughed, the two approaching the window. They saw the gooey bomb he had chucked out earlier. It had finally thawed in the heat and detonated. Ness could see a crater left by it, knowing that it would definitely gain the others' attention and inevitably complaints.

"Wellp… this is what I call a lunch break for me, and you getting the chance to quit before they try to get you in trouble to clean that too," Doctor Mario offered. Ness nodded. Before he could leave though, the doctor handed him something. It was a weird thermometer. It was shaped like a fire flower. It was kind of cute, really. But they had to quickly leave the room afterwards. They knew the other smashers hated random explosions, especially the ones that slept in. The two exited the clinic, leaving an "out to lunch" sign on it. The doctor went to his own room, Ness deciding to head to his room so he could change back into his normal clothing, though when Ness got back to his room, he saw his roommate still there. Toon Link was just polishing his shield. The thing looked like it had blocked a lot of damage for him, having very nice work done on its metal.

"Oh hey, Toon Link. Are you feeling any better?" Ness questioned while opening his nightstand drawer. He saw his mementos inside from his past few adventures with friends. He saw the baseball from helping Villager, resting beside the rainbow feather from Dynablade that Adeleine had given him. He rested the fire flower thermometer inside with the others before closing the drawer filled with mementos.

"Yes, and no. I have three problems tying to one another…" Toon Link answered, sighing. He missed the days, where the worst training he got was dodging a spear blow from his original teacher on how to wield a sword. Ness took a seat on his bed across from his green friend. It was one of the rare times he saw him without his green hat on. It was usually a sign to how stressed he was.

"What's going on?" Ness tried to query worriedly. Something in his mind was screaming at him to mind his own business and not care, but he could read other non-psychics minds whenever he wanted, which made that a little bit hard.

"Well… you know how Uncle Link likes sword training. Do it until you get so tired, that you can't move for a few days type of deal. But I got a letter from my sister that there are a lot of monsters on my home island, and I couldn't get out of training," Toon Link began. Ness knew he should have listened to that voice in the back of his head, but he was aware how much his friend cared for his home island. His little sister and grandma were a good reminder to Ness's own family.

"Why don't you tell them the problem? I'm sure Link would understand…" Ness responded, regretting continuing the conversation, but knew there wasn't much way out now. He couldn't leave a very sore friend to handle this kind of problem alone.

"I did. He thought I faked the letter, but I made up a lie to get out of training for a few days," Toon Link claimed. This did cheer his red capped roommate up, thinking maybe he was able to handle this on his own.

"Really? What'd you tell him?" Ness was curious what kind of lie could get his roommate out of sword training that he went through strenuously on top of brawls to train. Toon Link swallowed hard, resting his shield aside, looking his black haired friend.

"I-I told them that I was ignoring more important devotions. The kind of commitments that fill someone's heart containers in the morning," the blonde hero said before he went shy. Ness was waiting for the answer for the lie he made up.

"Will you pretend to be my boyfriend?"


	17. Island help part 1

Ness sat there with his blank faced stare and smile, looking at his roommate. He took his red cap off his head, scratching his hair, feeling a headache coming on already. He always wondered if he was too helpful to his friends.

"Okay… just… repeat that? I think I didn't hear it right," Ness asked, wondering if he had heard it right. He felt uncomfortable, seeing his green friend rest his shield beside his sword.

"I want you to pretend to be my boyfriend so I can get out of training for a few days. I-I'm sorry! It was the only lie I could come up with to avoid training… and Outset Island needs me," Toon Link explained once more why he had been so desperate to come up with the lie without consulting him. Ness just let himself fall back on his own bed, rubbing his eyes he wondered to himself if he really should help or not. He had already heard enough weird news today. Princess Peach being pregnant and now this.

"Fine, fine, I'll help! Just… I want something for this," Ness sat up, agreeing, but only if he got something in return. Toon Link was happy hearing him agree, but had his own share of worries to what he wanted in trade.

"What do you want for this?" he reluctantly asked.

"I want some of your grandma's soup. I know she either sends you some or you take a chance to visit and get a refill," Ness explained. He knew how delicious his friend's favourite soup was. It restored energy and made someone feel alive in almost seconds. The fact that it was good tasting was the main reason why he wanted it. Even though he couldn't have steak as often as he used to, he sure was going to get something delicious.

"Alright. C'mon, I'm going to need help," Toon Link stood up, sheathing his sword on his back and his shield strapped onto his arm. Ness rolled his eyes, going over to the closet and opening it. He dug around inside, throwing out about five different items before pulling out his baseball bat. It was cracked at the head of it, but it had been with him at every return to the Smash Mansion. Ness considered it a lucky charm since his own sister had given it to him. He also grabbed a yoyo from the closet, pocketing it. Once done, the two headed out into the hall to get upstairs along the way, though the two could see someone, an older man in green with heavier looking armour. He was dressed similarly like Toon Link was. He was Adult Link, but most just referred to him as Link.

"Oh, uh, hi Uncle Link," Toon Link greeted. The big man gave a light wave to them both.

"Hey, Toon… hi, Ness. You two have fun today," Link told them before continuing on his walk. He looked like he was in a hurry, but at least it seemed like he believed the lie his younger self had told him to avoid training. Ness had a light blush, the two heading upstairs.

"Is this the right door?" the raven haired boy asked as they approached a door that had the symbol of three golden triangles in the position that formed a big triangle shape altogether. Toon Link grabbed the key, nodding. There were two doors sharing this exact symbol, but they led to entirely different worlds. He pushed the key into the lock, letting it open the door. They saw the swirling portal waiting for them to enter. Thus they both went inside, vanishing after stepping foot within it, the door closing behind them.

Ness was greeted by the familiar darkness that always took over. He was aware it wasn't just him that experienced that odd peace in nothing moment when transporting, but for some reason knowing that there was going to be nothing for a brief moment made him relax for the day ahead, though when he opened his eyes, he realized something horribly wrong. He was lying flat on his back, floating on the water. He blinked, groaning.

"Link?" Ness muttered, looking around aside from the feeling of the cool ocean water on his back. He couldn't see his friend anywhere. This was the first time he ever experienced separation from the transportation. He knew his roommate hadn't drowned. He was far too experienced as a swimmer for that, and the portal didn't render people unconscious for longer than maybe three minutes at most, according to rumours from other smashers.

Ness looked to the sky, seeing the white clouds blocking out the sun partially. He couldn't see any islands nearby. He sighed, knowing he couldn't teleport like this, trying to think of a plan. He only had two real options.

"I can either drift out here, and hope to hit shore… or I can see how long my telepathies range is…" he muttered to himself. The psychic hated doing this, but sending subconscious signals was the only hope he had, really, recalling how Paula done it on their past adventures. He got a light smile, remembering it, his friends training him how to be more aggressive with his PSI as well. He hated the fact that he was having to forget the memories for now. He closed his eyes, letting the calm ocean tide rock him gently.

"Help… help! My name is Ness! I'm stuck drifting…" Ness could only telepathically say this much before his head began to hurt. Ness groaned, knowing he had not practiced sending other thoughts to people's minds much. He was better at reading them. All he could do now was rest on the water, feeling a minor rage inside him for winding up in this position and a slight one against Toon Link in general. He was starting to question mentally if he could have gotten more than just soup in the agreement. Time felt like it went by a lot faster though. While he was on the water, Ness could do nothing but wander his thoughts and memories, until he was suddenly woken up by the sound of a loud cannon firing that made him get out of his laid back position, to see in the distance where the noise came from.

"What is going on?"


	18. Island help part 2

Ness had swam closer to where the cannon fire had rung out. He could see two ships that were circling a smaller one. They weren't that big in size themselves but were clearly taking advantage of their numbers. They were shooting at a long but small ship that had been forced to stop, unable to move fast enough to escape, being encircled by the two attackers. The young boy did wonder if he should help. For all he knew the two ships were trying to protect themselves instead, and he could be misreading the situation entirely. Sadly his instincts proved wrong when he saw one of the operators of the two ships. It was an odd looking monster in an orange vest with a sharp sword on its back, known as a Bokoblin. He sighed, knowing it was either help or drift endlessly.

"PK Freeze!" Ness shouted, knowing he would be drowned out by the cannon fire. He froze some of the water that splashed against the side of the ship, solidifying it into a hardened ice. He grabbed on, treating the ice like hooks, pulling himself up one step at a time, the psychic knowing to be cautious. He didn't know how many were on either ship. Once on board, he saw the Bokoblin who was distracted aiming its cannon. He grinned, pulling his baseball bat off his back and sneaking up on it. Ness pulled back, readying his swing.

"Hey, batter batter…" Ness said, making it turn around. There it was, right on target.

"…swing!" Ness swung with his full force, the bat smashing it in the face hard, sending it flying off the ship and into the water. The raven haired boy couldn't help but smile, seeing one of its teeth stuck in his bat. He pulled it out and tossed it aside, though he heard the door to the lower area of the ship burst open. Out popped more of the various coloured Bokoblins, mostly a dark purple or green colour. They were all wielding big swords that were menacingly pointed at the teenager. He had to think quickly on how to distract and disarm them simultaneously.

"PK Fire!" Ness roared, aiming his hand downward. A fiery bolt shot out and it hit the deck of the ship, the ship began to catch ablaze. It panicked the ugly opponents. A fire was breaking out and they had no way to stop it. The psychic boy jumped off the ship and landed on the smaller one. He saw someone inside of it, hiding away fearfully. It came off more like a shop than a boat, though it shook violently when a cannonball exploded near it. The other ship was still trying to shoot at them. Ness saw a hook grapple onto it with a rope attached. He could see a Bokoblin trying to climb down.

"PK Flash!" Ness shouted, concentrating and firing a huge sparking surge of energy that was uncontrollably sparking. The enemy looked at it as if fascinated by the bright green aura. That was before it exploded in its face and forced it to let go of the room in agony, being blind and splashing wildly in the water. Ness happily used the rope to his advantage, climbing onto the next ship. He saw two more Bokoblins, ready to engage with him. One dove at him with a sword overhead to swing. Ness used his bat to block the sword swing, but it barely did. He heard the wood splintering the bat.

"Back off!" Ness pulled back his leg and kicked the Bokoblin in the stomach. It hunched over in pain, making it remove his sword from the bat. Ness stood up and he smashed it overhead with his bat, forcing it to the floor easily, knocking it unconscious. The other one however slashed at him, cutting his side. He had dodged most of it, thankfully. The teenage psychic pulled his yoyo out of his pocket and swung it in retaliation for a ranged attack. It hit his enemy in the hand, knocking its weapon away. It did try to grab it again, but Ness stopped it, aiming the palm of his hand in its face. He had gotten close when it was distracted.

"Can you save me one swing and jump off?" Ness requested, the Bokoblin, knowing its ship was lost diving off into the water, leaving a loud splash. The young boy pocketed his yoyo and rested his baseball bat on his back. He still lit the ship on fire afterwards, but that was more a precaution so the monsters wouldn't try to take another shot at him with a cannon. He jumped back down onto the merchant vessel.

"Hello? It's, uh… safe now… but we should get moving," he recommended seeing the merchant himself, who was revealed to be a man without a shirt, but with a big nose and an odd haircut. He nodded, the sail opening back up again. They began to leave the two burning ships behind them. Ness was trying to regain his energy, his side throbbed in pain, he sighed taking a seat on the floorboards, the sound of the ocean creaking and rocking. The ship was calmer than his soaked body made it out to be.

"You saved my skin! Thank you so much," the man said, sitting beside a counter. He was very grateful.

"It was nothing. What are you doing out here?" Ness attempted to query, knowing he was going to have to speak with the man, otherwise he would be a hero that was still drifting blindly on the sea.

"Well, I'm Beedle, a travelling sea merchant. I was heading for my favorite place to relax but then I had a weird voice in my head of a boy telling me to come this way…" Beedle introduced himself. Ness looked away, guilt filled, starting to realize he had led an innocent merchant into a dangerous route of the sea. Then again, as long as they both lived, no harm, no foul.

"Yeah, sorry… that was me. I'm Ness. I, uh, fell off my friend's ship and wound up drifting. Is there any chance you can take me to Outset Island?" Ness questioned while apologizing for making him come to such a dangerous area. At least that was what it seemed to be. Toon Link had told him all kinds of tales of the high seas. Beedle nodded happily.

"Hey! I was heading there to relax anyway. The people are so nice that I just love resting there," he claimed, glad they were both going to the same place. A coincidence that would save him a lot more time sailing. Ness hoped that Toon Link would meet him there, and if not, then the young boy had to go searching for his roommate on the vast ocean. Ness leaned against the wall nearby. He was already on the floor anyway, feeling drained from burning out so much energy fighting off those Bokoblins.

"I need a nap…"


	19. Island help part 3

Ness had slumbered through most of the boat ride. It was relaxing, rocking on the boat. It was like resting in a water bed. But then he was awoken by a light shaking of his shoulder. He saw the shop merchant standing in front of him.

"Hey, we're at Outset Island. If you're interested in any of my wares, I'll give ya 10% off for saving my life," Beedle told him. He had a fishing rod on his shoulder, looking like he was going to enjoy relaxing while he could. Ness nodded, thankful for the discount, though most people would do a lot more when they had their lives saved than just give a discount. The teenage boy headed off the boat, seeing Outset Island before him. He was beside the small docks, seeing a tower down the shore away like a fun lookout for kids to hang out in. Ness could see another part of the island entirely that was full of forest from the view. There were a lot of homes around, too. It looked calm though, the tall grass whistling with the wind blowing through it.

"Wow… Toon Link wasn't kidding," Ness commented. He had been told a lot by his roommate about the island, but he never imagined it to actually live up to its status. He could see some of the inhabitants working their daily routine. Two people were cutting tall grass, and Ness could see a girl in a light pink dress that had blue rings at the bottom and had somewhat short purple hair. She was balancing blue pots on her head. He shrugged, approaching her.

"Hi, have you seen Link?" Ness asked, wondering if his friend had arrived to the island way before him. The woman shook her head, seeming to be an excellent balancer, judging by how the pot hadn't crashed to the ground yet.

"No. Are you a friend of his? I'm Sue-belle. It's nice to meet you," Sue-belle introduced herself, shaking his hand.

"I hang out with him a lot. I'm Ness. Have you seen any monsters on the island?" he responded, inquiring if there was a monster threat. Toon Link told him there was, but so far this island looked like a perfect haven. She looked at him, confused, having not seen any monsters herself.

"Aside from the occasional ChuChu, no. You could talk to his grandmother though. She knows a lot more than me about the island," Sue-belle declared, pointing to a path that had a lot of bushes on it to a decently sized home. Ness nodded, aware that ChuChu's weren't threatening to anybody. Even a small child could beat a regular one into submission with bare hands. Chuchu jelly also made a good delicacy. He headed off to Toon Link's home, knowing that if there were monsters on this island hidden somewhere, the sooner he found out and tried to deal with them the better. Ness knew not to go barging into people's homes. He knocked lightly, seeing the door creak open.

"Hello?" a light voice greeted. He saw the one that answered the door was a girl, in a blue dress that had flowers on random parts of it. She also had short light blonde hair. Ness had a light smile, seeing the familiar girl. It was Aryll, Toon Link's little sister. His roommate had told him about his family, which Ness always loved listening to. He had a sister of his own back at home and he cared for her, though he sometimes questioned Toon Link's devotion to his sister. He acted like a second father more than an older brother.

"Hi there. I, uh, need to talk to your grandma. I'm a friend of Link's," Ness explained. Aryll seemed to become less shy upon hearing this, opening the door wider and letting him come inside. The raven haired boy looked around the home. It looked pretty nice, a few pots sitting on shelves. There were other various objects lying nearby, too. Ness saw an elderly woman with grey hair. She was resting in a rocking chair underneath a blanket.

"Grandma, we have a visitor!" Aryll chimed happily. Her grandmother raised her and Link, but her age clearly showed she looked frail and old. Ness assumed this was why Toon Link tried to act like a father somewhat to his sister. Their grandma looked like she would only survive a few more years, but it seemed like the last thing that was on their mind. Aryll and Toon Link were going to love her and be grateful for everything she's done no matter what.

"Oh my, how can I help you?" the elder questioned. Ness smiled, taking his hat off, remembering how much his mother told him to respect his elders over and over again.

"I'm Ness, a friend of Link's. We were told there were a bunch of monsters on the island… but I'm kind of thinking that wasn't true. I was hoping you two would know?" Ness explained, though she seemed happy to hear that Toon Link had friends that were willing to risk their own wellbeing to aid him.

"Oh no. We haven't had any monsters. Orca would be on them if we did. …can you tell me how Link has been?" she requested from the young boy. Aryll looked like she wanted to know as well.

"Well… he's doing great. He trains hard every day and everyone likes him. He does a lot to help and keep the others training hard, too. But he always talks about you two," the black haired boy exclaimed, rubbing his hand on the blonde girl's head. She did look somewhat guilty. The elder was nothing but enthralled with the hearing how well he was doing. Toon Link was the fastest swordsman of the Smash Mansion, and due to his size, he helped keep others on their toes in training.

"I know something about the monsters…" Aryll muttered. He quirked an eyebrow, crouching down to her height.

"Can you tell me? It's important that I know where they are," Ness said, Aryll looking to her grandmother.

"Don't worry, dear, you're not in trouble," the elderly woman declared. The young blonde girl nodded, knowing there was no reason to keep it secret, but she was worried.

"They're all up in the forest. I spot them occasionally with my telescope, and they don't look like the normal monsters, either. I sent Link a letter about it, hoping he'd visit us, too…" Aryll admitted that she mostly missed her brother. Orca probably could handle the monsters in her mind. Ness was more concerned about the fact that they looked like abnormal monsters. He knew he had to get to the forest to deal with it.

"Aryll, I have a sister about your age… and trust me, she keeps a lot of secrets, too. Sometimes a secret is a lot better than the truth. Link will come to the island eventually. I'm going to go try and get rid of the monsters," Ness explained, reassuring that his sister Tracy kept secrets like that, too. He knew his family missed him, but he could always visit them whenever he wanted. Toon Link didn't have that luxury due to his training. With that, Ness fixed his hat back on his head and made for the door, knowing he had to head to the forest to see for himself.

"Be careful, Mister Ness!"


	20. Island help part 4

Ness had traversed up the Mountain of Outset Island to get to the forest. He had to climb quite a good bit, though. He was relieved when he reached the top, though that moment of relief was gone when he saw the somewhat swingy wooden rope bridge that connected the forest to the mountain. He rubbed his head.

"Maybe I do too much for my friends…" Ness thought to himself, but if it meant saving the kind inhabitants of the island, he had no regrets. The teenager began to cross the wooden bridge as quickly and carefully as he could. He wasn't a big fan of heights in his life. He wasn't afraid of this entirely, since there was nothing but water below, but he still hated the faint feeling of falling for long periods of time. It felt endless and creepy to him. He could stop his careful crossing when he reached the other side. Thankfully, the other side was the entrance to the forest. There were a bunch of small saplings in front of the path to it that clearly had been planted recently. He ignored them and began his way into the forest, staying on his toes, aware that it was infested with monsters, like Aryll said.

Ness had made a good few steps into the forest, seeing various trees cover the sky above him, though he suddenly heard the leaves in a bush rustle. He quickly pulled his baseball bat off his back, getting ready for whatever it was. He wanted to make sure he wasn't pounding on the wildlife again, though what emerged from it was something he didn't expect. It was something short in height, wearing a white mask that had a blank face on it and a red uniform covering its entire body. It was known as a Shy Guy, a common inhabitant of the Mushroom Kingdom, but Ness was confused, seeing the masked person approaching.

"Oh… hey there, little guy. How'd you get here?" Ness curiously asked. Shy Guys were never a threat to him. They were kind of cute in a way, the way their masks expressed their entire personality. The Shy Guy twirled around and pulled something out of its pocket, handing it over. The raven haired boy's eyebrow quirked until he realized what it was.

"Oh. A Deku Nut. Well, thanks, I- GAH!" the Deku Nut detonated in Ness's hand mid-sentence. Deku Nuts were known for one thing, which was being used as blinding implements when activated. A lot of the smashers despised the flashy item, for the irritation ringing that was left post-flash. Ness felt a sharp pain across his back that forced him to the ground. His vision was blurry, but it was coming back. He saw the monster that had struck him. It was a green one eyed monster that was a little bigger than him. It looked like a green ghost, but it was actually a Flage living plant, but the end of its two limbs were sharp blades. Ness was aware he had a new cut mark on his back that hurt a lot. The Shy Guy however was long gone.

"What in the name of Master Hand? You shouldn't be on this island!" Ness exclaimed, pushing his hand on the ground and forcing himself back on his feet. The Flage was a thing he only saw in challenges with others when they wanted to do a Smash Run. He was aware now, the threat that was inhabiting the forest of Outset Island. Ness saw the green monster vanish. He knew what it was going to do, though. They were easy to predict.

"PK Thunder!" Ness shouted, spinning around and unleashing a current of electricity from his hands. The Flage reappeared nearby. It tried to warp around to keep slashing at whatever its target was, but it got hit by the electricity, being shocked immensely. It was forced to the ground. The teenage psychic jumped up and stomped on it, crushing its head, making it vanish instantly. Ness panted tiredly from how things were going right now. He had to hunt down the Shy Guy and make it vanish as well. The enemies once killed usually regenerated in their home worlds or the special Smash Run arena, or occasionally became trophies. He was hurting, his side already had an injury on it, and now his back was hurting as well. He hated battle scars. They made him embarrassed to get extra attention.

"Anyone else?" Ness called out while beginning to continue through the forest. Now he had to hunt down the Shy Guy and bat it hard enough to break its mask in two. But then he was stopped short, seeing three similar flying monsters. They were Reos, odd monsters that had two big eyes but were small in size. They had three sharp claws on both hands.

"Aha! PK Flash!" Ness shouted, releasing a burst of huge energy. The sparkling green energy floated toward the over sized bugs and exploded. It killed one easily, but the other two didn't hesitate to fly straight at him. He dodged one, but the other knocked his leg out from under him, tripping him to the ground. He groaned, gaining a new mark on his leg. His head was still aching. He quickly stood up and smashed one with his baseball bat, sending it flying and crashing into a tree, making it vanish as well.

The last Reo was about to hit him from behind. But suddenly, it got pierced by an arrow that pinned it to a fallen log which was the remains of a tree. The monster vanished afterwards. Ness was relieved, and he had a small smile as he recognized the arrow.

"Ness!" Toon Link's voice called out as he ran to his roommate. Ness was trying to regain his breath. They were both happy to see each other well.

"Glad you joined in the party. Look, we got…" Ness tried to explain, but got cut off by his friend nodding his head.

"I know. I ran into a few already. I don't know what happened. When we warped here, I wound up on Windfall Island. Sorry for making you do this alone…" Toon Link apologized, not sure what happened to the teleportation either. It was worrying. The portals in the Smash Mansion never failed, and the psychic teenager had warped with much bigger parties, so surely the fact that it was multiple people wasn't the issue. The two suddenly felt the ground rumble. They saw one of the trees get knocked aside before them.

"I-is that-?!" Ness gawked. They saw it, an over sized disembodied heart with only one eye in the center of it, and two huge thick veins attached to partially broken skulls like mitts. They both knew what it was easily. Both of the kids were equally terrified.

"C-CLUBBERSKULL!"


	21. Island help part 5

Ness and Toon Link saw the Clubberskull raise its bulky arms. They both moved out of the way quickly before it crashed its limbs into the ground, leaving two huge cracks on the ground. It was strong and horrifying to fight. No one liked to fight it because they could send them reeling with one measly swing. The two teenagers knew the only plan available right now was to fight it.

"PK Freeze!" Ness shouted, firing a bolt of ice from his hands. It hit one of the arms of the disembodied heart, freezing it to the ground. They heard it growling as it was trying to rip itself from the ice. Toon Link used his Hookshot to climb onto a tree branch. Afterwards, he pulled out his bow and arrow, taking aim at the somewhat disabled bulky enemy. He pulled back the bow string and fired an arrow. It hit the monster with no problem, but that seemed to just anger it more. It used its free limb and broke the ice. Ness didn't have a chance to react before it took a swing at him, hitting him in the chest and bashing him into a tree hard enough that the young boy swore he could feel something break. Whether it was his bones breaking or not, his torso hurt a lot.

"Ness!" Toon Link called out, knowing he had to try and get its attention. He began to fire all the arrows he had. The Clubberskull's eye focused on Ness, but he felt its back receive tiny pokes as each arrow pierced it or the ground around it. But it worked. The heart let go of Ness. He slid to the ground, groaning, and his eyes half open to see the tree that he had been hit into. It turned away to the tree that it had cracked.

"Uh oh…" the boy in green gulped, seeing the Clubberskull charging at the tree he had taken refuge in. The beast rammed the tree and punched it. Toon Link felt it shaking rapidly, hearing a cracking noise and a loud creaking noise. The tree began to tilt. He sighed, knowing it was either fall with the tree or fall in general. He put his bow away and quickly drew his sword, glaring at the monster. He jumped off, aiming the blade downward with his full force, diving downward at the Clubberskull.

"Toon Link, no!" Ness shouted, his chest throbbing in pain. The Clubberskull was ready to smack the blonde haired boy away. Ness had to do something. He stood up, getting his baseball bat out. He ran at the Clubberskull, swinging his blunt weapon with all of his strength left, bashing away repeatedly. The oversized heart got angry, turning around. It was very easy to gain the attention of it, but thankfully he had distracted it long enough for Toon Link to safely dig his sword downward to the Clubberskull, impaling it deeply. Half of the blade was embedded within it.

"PK Flash!" Ness shouted, jumping back and unleashing a bright green burst of energy that he let float toward the Clubberskull that was beginning to act weird. It was erratically shaking around, trying to throw Toon Link off its back, though the teenage boy closed his eyes tight as the explosion of energy hit the Clubberskull, knocking it back. This was enough to throw off Toon Luck. He fell onto the ground. His arms hurt a lot, but he had an idea. The heart was reeling from the combined attacks. Toon Link quickly forced himself onto his feet, pulling out multiple bombs that weren't that big in size and blue in color. He threw three bombs at the big enemy. Each explosion knocked it back more. Ness got a grin, realizing what his friend was doing.

"PK Thunder!" Ness unleashed a focused current of electricity that he could control well. It flew around, and he guided it into hitting himself in the back. This launched him forward with great force like a small, but mighty rocket. Ness slammed head first onto the heart. This was enough to knock it over. It fell backwards onto Toon Link's sword, driving the blade deeper within it. They watched it flail its arms on the ground, each hit damaging it more and more, until it finally began to cease movement. The two were panting, seeing the monster vanish after its death, leaving the sword on the ground. Toon Link picked it up and sheathed it on his back.

"Wow… we did it…." Ness was relieved, though they knew they couldn't rest. They now had to find out where these monsters were coming from. But it didn't take long. They could see it nearby from where the Clubberskull had bashed its way through a few trees. It was a weird small circle floating off the ground that had an ominous aura around it. They had seen it before, though. It was a portal that monsters spawned from. Toon Link could see the same Shy Guy that Ness saw, which was standing in front of it. It looked nervous, aware it had attacked the raven haired boy earlier. Before it could react, it got shot by an arrow, forcing it to vanish.

"Thanks," Ness said, thankful his friend had taken a shot at it. Otherwise he would have brutalized the little enemy himself. The psychic teenager began to bash away at the portal to destroy it.

"I hate those guys stealing my rupees all the time anyway," Toon Link responded. Shy Guys robbed him a lot more than he liked to admit, though he noticed something odd sticking out nearby. It looked like an arrow, and he knew he wasn't strong enough to shoot it this far. There was a note attached to the arrow. He plucked it off, looking angry. Ness finished bashing away the portal. That should put a cease to the monsters appearing in the world, he thought. He came over, seeing his angry roommate.

"What is it?" Ness curiously asked, though saw the note himself. "Next time, don't lie to skip out on your training." This made them both mad. They were fully aware of who left this note, and they didn't like it one bit. Toon Link was gritting his teeth.

"I'm going to kill him…"


	22. Island help part 6

Ness and Toon Link were walking down the mountain, after having found the source of where the monsters were coming from, and having killed the beasts infesting the woods and the portal they were emerging from. The two roommates were talking to one another, having come up with an idea on how to get revenge against the one who had set this all up. Link, the adult swordsman of the mansion, who somehow saw through his younger associate's lie easily.

"Yeah… it sounds like a good plan," Ness agreed with a grin, the two of them getting a lot of waves from some of the islands inhabits. Toon Link was relieved that they were all going to be safe anyway.

"Thanks again for helping. As tired as I was, I don't think I could have taken on half of those, let alone the Clubberskull," he exclaimed, thanking his roommate for risking his life to aid him in this. Neither one of them had expected the situation to escalate so quickly. They arrived to the blonde haired boy's home, entering inside. His grandmother had not moved from her usual chair since last time. Aryll smiled, seeing them, running over and tackling Toon Link with a warm hug. He lightly laughed, picking her up. The blonde girl always enjoyed seeing her brother since he adventured a lot and was usually away from home.

"You're always so strong!" Aryll commented as he put her back down happily, though he sort of cheated with special bands that improved his strength drastically, but no one needed to know about those. Ness stayed silent, just letting him enjoy the family reunion.

"Did you young ones take care of the problem?" his grandma asked. Ness nodded. They both looked bruised and battered, with a few new cuts to them, though the raven haired boy got the worst of them since he had a big one on his back. He patted Toon Link on the back.

"Yeah. They weren't anything big. We got rid of them all," Ness lied, declaring that the monsters that were unusual to this world were actually a lot easier than they turned out to be.

"Well that's good. How about you join us for some soup?" she extended her gratitude. Big or small, a problem solved for Outset Island deserved a reward. Ness licked his lips, excited to eat some of her delicious soup. Toon Link and Aryll seemed just as excited. The last time Ness had a look like theirs was when he last had a great steak with his own family. The four were going to enjoy this together.

Some time was spent enjoying lunch together over the delicious soup. It was as good as always warm and filling it was mostly vegetables mixed in the soup, but whatever was in it made Ness's lungs feel more open, his energy refill and even his injuries feel a little better. Once they had finished their own fair share of the soup, the two boys stepped out of the home, Aryll and Toon Links grandmother standing there.

"Promise me you'll come back soon, big brother," Aryll requested. She enjoyed the time she spent with the two, their grandma smiling as she waved.

"I will! I love you both!" Toon Link told them, Ness smiling. His roommate looked to him, nodding, insisting he was ready to head back to the Smash Mansion. The blonde boy began to follow Ness. The two were running as fast as they could, both suddenly vanishing into a portal. This freaked out a few of the people they ran by. Aryll and his grandmother were a bit saddened that he had to leave so soon.

Ness and Toon Link reappeared outside the Smash Mansion, though it was somewhat dark out now. It was annoying to them. The time zone changes in each world, but nothing that couldn't be easily adapted to. Ness was glad it went well to teleport to the mansion, unlike how it was when they left. The two headed back inside the mansion. They were both looking bruised and battered, and they both had made a plan on how to get revenge on Link. The two teenagers headed to another area on the first floor. The hall was thankfully empty, but they could see one of the doors with a sign on it, which indicated that it was, indeed, the Training Room. It was for anyone wanting to practice their moves and combat, but it was mostly the swordsmen who used it. Everyone else usually practiced by engaging with each other in a brawl.

"Are you ready?" Ness questioned with a smirk, seeing the time on a clock nearby. It was about seven thirty by now. Most swordsmen would stop practicing at this time, except for one.

"You know I am," Toon Link whispered, eager to do their revenge plan.

Inside the room, Link was standing in front of a sandbag that looked like it had been cut open, stitched back together and then put through the same cycle fifteen more times. He spun around, swinging his sword, cutting it in half and making it flop to the ground. Link enjoyed practice, though he was feeling more strained than usual. He rubbed his shoulder sorely. Repetitive swinging motions were catching up to him and aching his limbs. He sheathed his sword on his back with his shield and began to head for the door to leave so he could get cleaned up, but just after, Link was stopped by a pair of familiar voices, the door being creaked open. He decided to listen in on the conversation.

"B-but I swear I didn't do it…" Toon Link said, sounding upset. Link could see the younger boy in green talking with Ness. He wondered why the raven haired boy looked so angry.

"I went with you because you said it'd be a relaxing date. Instead, you tricked me into your sick training!" Ness shouted, acting like the trip to Outset Island was a date gone horribly wrong. Toon Link sniffled, having tears going down his cheeks.

"I-I promised I would stop training for you… P-please, Ness, I love you!" the blonde boy said, only to get shoved away by the teenage psychic.

"We're done," he growled, walking away, leaving Toon Link standing there, burying his face in his hands, crying. Link stepped out, seeing the young bearer of the Triforce of Courage.

"Toon Link? What happened?" he asked. Toon Link hugged him, burying his face in his stomach sobbing.

"I-Its awful! *hic!* Ness broke up with me! Th-there were monsters on my island w-when I wanted to take him to meet my family…" Toon Link explained. Link was blinking confusedly while his hand rubbed the young boy's head, worried, starting to second guess himself. He had set up the monster spawner on Outset Island as some form of payback, assuming it was a lie, but after seeing the argument, he had other thoughts in his head.

"Oh… look, Toon Link. I'm sorry. This is my fault. I thought you were lying to me," Link apologized, seeing Toon Link look up to him. Those blue eyes looked more upset.

"Is there… uh, anything I can do to help?" Link offered. Toon Link rubbed some of the tears out of his eyes, sniffling.

"We-well… there is one thing… can you close your eyes?" he requested. He was confused, but he nodded, just doing what he requested. Suddenly, Link felt a sharp freezing feeling over take him. He was frozen solid, left standing there. Toon Link had a big grin. Ness had thrown a Freezie item from around the corner.

"Mission complete!" Ness smirked. Toon Link, his crocodile tears gone, went to Ness, and they high-fived, having captured the one that had caused the trouble on Outset Island, now encased in ice.

"Come on. Let's take him to Villager. He's good at coming up with other ways of revenge," Toon Link insisted. Ness didn't argue, helping push the frozen hero along.

"Seriously, though. I'm done being your pretend boyfriend."


	23. Pokemon hunt part 1

After helping Toon Link get the frozen older Link to Villager's room. Ness had headed back to his own room. He was very tired, just wanting to go to bed. When he got inside, it was dimly lit. Ness's eyes though had long since adjusted to the dark, so he could care less. He took his red baseball cap off and rested it on the nightstand, though after he had changed into his pajamas, he heard a knocking on his door. He was confused, not expecting anyone. He opened it curiously, though looking down, he saw Kirby wearing his green night cap.

"Poyo?" Kirby spoke, holding a small star pillow. Ness knew Link was probably going to wind up tortured by the two children in the neighbouring room. That was something he tried to ignore, though he assumed that his pink friend wasn't going to be able to sleep in there because of it.

"Sure, you can stay with me tonight," Ness claimed. The pink puffball jumped for joy, happy that his friend never turned him down when he needed another place to spend the night. He came inside the door, closing behind him. The raven haired teenager went and climbed into his bed.

"You can sleep in Toon Link's bed. I think he'll be busy tonight," Ness commented, doing his best to suppress a laugh. He laid down, resting his head on the soft pillow that made him stare at the wall. He preferred sleeping on his side right now since he still had a massive cut on his back, though the psychic boy felt his bed move slightly. He opened his eyes, having a pretty good feeling what shook him.

"How come you like sleeping with me?" Ness had to question, seeing Kirby who was sharing the same bed somewhat, under the blankets, as far as his tiny body needed them anyway. The pink puffball had a smile, not really ever having a good answer.

"Poy-poyo!" he responded. Ness couldn't help but get a small smile from his answer.

"Haha… funny… I'm not that soft though," he said, rolling over, just wanting to get to sleep. He knew it wouldn't take long for his current bunk mate to fall asleep. His back was aching enough as it is. The night was pretty peaceful and calm aside from the occasional knocking on the wall from Villager's room, but he ignored it, knowing fully about what was causing it, though in their slumber, something had creaked open the door gently, sneaking inside and making its way toward the bed they were both slumbering in. A big sized mouse with yellow fur that had two red circles on each cheek was climbing onto it and toward Ness. It had a green envelope in its mouth which it dropped on the bed.

"Pika-pi," he said being, known as Pikachu. In the Smash Mansion, it was one of many of the Pokémon that were used in fights, mainly as items, but there were a few Pokémon in the smash mansion as fighters as well, Pikachu being the oldest one around here. Ness groaned, looking to see what was waking him up this time in the middle of the night.

"Pikachu? Why are you in my bed?" Ness asked. He drew the line of sharing his bed with things that could possibly shock him in his sleep. Pikachu tapped on the envelope. He sighed, taking it and opening it, pulling out the letter.

"Dear, Ness. Sorry for bugging you this late, but I need you to come to my room as soon as you can. ~ From Red."

Ness put down the letter and looked to Pikachu, sighing, aware that tonight Kirby was going to have the bed all to himself. He sat up and climbed out of his bed, grabbing his baseball cap, though he didn't care enough to change out of his pajamas, hoping this would be one small visit and nothing more. He fixed it on his head before following Pikachu out of his room. The Smash Mansion at night was a little creepier than most of them liked it to be. It was dark and poorly lit by small candles on the walls that didn't illuminate all that well to begin with. Ness knew that someone always had to light the candles, but he never knew who was doing it. He didn't care right now. He was following Pikachu downstairs. They came to a single door that had a sign dangling on it, reading "Pokémon Room".

"It's been a while since I've been in here…" Ness admitted, Pikachu nodding as they both entered. Inside, they found themselves in a small living quarters. There was two shelves that were lined with various colored balls. He saw a boy in a red vest with brown hair. He looked tired, but he was happy to see them, Pikachu running over and jumping up to his Pokémon Trainer. He was Red, a young man that used to participate in the smash events, but inevitably he felt he wasn't cut out for it, so he decided to help keep the Pokémon summoned in fights trained and healthy. He did also raise a fair amount of other Pokémon too for his own sake.

"Hey, Red. What is it you need?" Ness requested, wanting him to get to the point, seeing Red rubbing Pikachu's head, the feeling which the electric mouse enjoyed.

"Sorry for the late wake up call… I got a problem, Ness," Red said, setting Pikachu aside. He motioned Ness over. The teenage psychic wondered what it was, at this point aware that he couldn't turn down helping him. The Pokémon Trainer was trying to show him the shelf of Poké Balls.

"A few of the Pokémon… they escaped from the last battle they were in," Red said. The Pokémon had escaped shortly after being summoned. It was something entirely unexpected, but that was his fault. He didn't know where they went for a good time.

"You know how it is. I'm usually the one to recall them, but I couldn't find them. It turns out they made it to the third floor though," he sighed, rubbing his head sorely, imagining it. Ness knew what this meant if they got to the third floor.

"So they used a portal?" Ness quirked. This didn't sound that good, but judging by how many of the holes on the shelf that normally housed Poké Balls were empty, it looked like four had escaped.

"Yes. Thankfully, Lucario saw which one they went into. They took the door to the Hoenn region," the Pokémon Trainer continued. This didn't sound like a problem. There were a lot of doors that led to the Pokémon world. There were so many different regions and areas.

"So where do I come into this?" Ness requested, not wanting to beat around the bush. He was curious, as to what made him better than others to handle this task.

"Well look, I have to take care of all the Pokémon here. You can't leave something crammed inside a Poké Ball for days on end. I need someone to go catch those four Pokémon, and you can talk with animals better than most. The bigger problem is not just how many escaped, but because two of them do not belong in the Hoenn Region. If those two aren't caught, then a lot of media will get involved in Hoenn, and then researchers, and then professors… I don't want those two to just be dolls for some lunatics to poke at," Red explained how dire the situations were. Ness sighed aware, what this meant. Pokémon were a lot different than most normal animals. Pikachu looked at the raven haired psychic for help.

"Fine, I'll help… What do I have to do?"


	24. Pokemon hunt part 2

Ness had spent probably half an hour talking to Red. After he had went and got changed into his normal clothing, Ness was discussing with him what he had to do to help capture the four Pokémon that had escaped. Red came to him with two Poké Balls in hand, giving them to his young helper. For Red, it brought back somewhat nostalgic memories of how he got his first Pokémon.

"Why are you giving me these for?" Ness asked, not sure why he needed Pokémon to help him when he had PSI, though he doubted it was legal if he just fought every wild animal he encountered in the Pokémon world.

"Because Hoenn's big and you never know what will happen while hunting them. I want you to feel safer there. These are the only Pokémon I can spare, and they have… well, issues," Red explained that they had odd natures about both of them, but reassured there was nothing to be worried about. He handed Ness a small bag that was to be holstered over the shoulder, which was easier to access than the backpack. He normally dawned it when he travelled. Pikachu was practically asleep on the bed during the discussion of how to catch Pokémon, having heard it so many times before.

"Right. Thanks, Red. If you do this for everyone in the mansion, you could be the next professor!" Ness joked, gaining a small laugh from his friend. He pocketed the Poké Balls of his new companions of this small hunt. He then saw Red pull out an odd looking gadget and handed it over.

"Your Pokédex?" Ness quirked, seeing this. It was odd, it looked like a glorified advanced phone which was orange in color. He was wondering why he needed this, but was aware it came with a lot of options anyway that could be of assistance to him.

"Well, I've set it to hunt down the four Pokémon. It's an older model, but it should be able to track them. Your bag also has all you should need in it," Red exclaimed, rubbing his head sorely, remembering how hard it was to track certain ones anyway. Ness was looking kind of forward to this. It seemed like it was going to be a calm hunt for Pokémon. He hoped so, at least, since the last few trips nearly got him killed, and his ribs were still aching from helping Toon Link.

"Alright. Thanks, Professor Red," the teenage psychic snickered, leaving the room. Red did have one worry though as he bid his friend farewell for now, and that was the Pokémon he had lent him, unsure how they would take to one another. He hoped it would all work out in the end, because he really had no idea who to look to otherwise.

Ness went up to the third floor where all the doors remained. He approached one set of doors, though they all had similar symbols on them which was a big circle with a line in it and a smaller circle resembling a Poké Ball, though each sign indicated which region of the Pokémon world each door went to. Ness took the key off the door to the Hoenn region and unlocked it. The door opened up, unveiling its portal. He went inside, vanishing, the door slamming shut behind him.

Once again, the darkness had overtaken him. Ness was getting really used to it, though it felt awkward to go to another world entirely alone. His vision slowly came back. He noticed the sunlight that beamed before him, though there wasn't much of it. There were a lot of trees there, the sun was barely getting in between the leaves to illuminate the forest he was in. All the trees were huge in size too.

"Wow… talk about beautiful…" Ness muttered. He had reappeared in more of an open part of the region. However, he could see a lot of tall grass nearby. He dug around in his pocket, pulling out the two Poké Balls that he had received. He wanted to get to know the Pokémon that were going to be helping him right now. Ness opened them up, seeing a bright white light escape for a brief moment. He saw something standing in front of him. It looked like a girl. She had green hair and a long white dress, and she had odd red fin-like horns showing from her chest and back.

"Garde?" the green haired Pokémon spoke. Gardevoir, a Psychic/Fairy-type Pokémon, looked down, seeing Ness standing there. He smiled.

"Hi, uhh, I'm Ness. I'm going to be your trainer for a short time," Ness explained, though he was not seeing another Pokémon. He looked around curiously. The Gardevoir, however, didn't look too amused at this news. She pouted.

"Gardevoir…" she sighed reluctantly, knowing she didn't have choice in the matter. She had trained with Red, but whenever summoned she usually did nothing more than protect the one that summoned her with a barrier, but she of course could be a reliable Pokémon.

"Uh, do you know where the other Pokémon is? I can't find it…" the raven haired boy embarrassingly asked, though he felt something crawling up his back until it revealed itself on his shoulder. It was a green caterpillar that had big eyes and a yellow short end to its tail. It was a Caterpie, a Bug-type Pokémon that was common, but looked adorable.

"Aw… hey there, little guy," Ness said, feeling it nuzzle against his cheek, being affectionate by nature. Red had been trying his best to find some way for the Caterpie to be summoned in the Smash Mansion's fights, but he still had to train it more. The teenage psychic rubbed its head, the Caterpie making a pleased sound.

"Okay. You both need to know, we're just looking for four Pokémon that escaped," he stated. The Gardevoir gave him that same pout. Ness wondered why he was disliked so immensely suddenly, wondering if he had done something to her accidentally at the Smash Mansion. Ness couldn't tell though. Due to her being a psychic, he was not going to be able to read her mind without her allowing him to do so. The Caterpie so far seemed to not care and was purely affectionate. Ness pulled out the Pokédex, opening it, trying to view the first one on the list. It was something named Petilil, and there was a small arrow pointing north to indicate where it had gone. He pocketed the Pokédex.

"Alright, let's go!"


	25. Pokemon hunt part 3

Ness had travelled through most of the forest, which was named Petalburg Woods. He felt kind of happy to have two Pokémon. They made him feel more relaxed than his usual partners on these odd cross dimensional trips. Caterpie was resting happily on his shoulder though, Gardevoir had been kept in her Poké Ball for now, mostly because of how he could sense an overwhelming aura of hatred from her. He had no idea why, either. Ness was doing his best to think back on times he had summoned her in smash fights, but he couldn't recall any bad times. Once outside Petalburg Woods, the teenage boy could see a small shop nearby that looked mostly to be selling flowers or such. He saw a few berry bushes nearby. He plucked all the berries he could from them. They were blue and round, not that big in size. The Pokédex informed him that they were Oran Berries, a healthier snack for a Pokémon. He put them away in his bag in case he needed them later.

"Hello there!" someone's voice chimed. Ness turned around to see a girl in a big sunhat and a light yellow dress. Her orange wavy hair reached her shoulders in height, yet she was a lot taller than him.

"Oh, hi. Can I help?" Ness responded, Caterpie letting out a light noise that indicated happy greetings, at least he assumed it to be. The noises so far were good. The young boy wasn't good at interpreting that type of stuff.

"I'm Annie, and I see you're a trainer. And our eyes met. You know what that means?" the bright girl named Annie asked. Ness blinked at her, pondering confusedly, looking to his bug Pokémon, unsure what to say.

"Uh… we say hi and move on?" Ness guessed, gaining a giggle from her.

"No, silly! We have a battle! I'm kind of new, but don't expect me to hold back!" Annie declared. The boy in the red cap sighed, looking to Caterpie. That bug type didn't seem anymore discouraged from this than before. He watched the girl throw out a Poké Ball, and out from the bright light came a small Pokémon that looked like it was a blue ball with two small mouse ears, and a ball at the end of its tail.

"Well… alright. Caterpie, you're up," Ness declared, not seeing any way out of this. His Pokémon nodded, crawling off of him and getting ready. He pulled out his Pokédex to read the details of his opponent Pokémon. It was a Marill, a Water/Fairy-Type Pokémon. At the same time he was checking on his Caterpie to learn its moves. He knew that Pokémon didn't know that many. They could only learn up to four, at most, so he was ready.

"Bubble Beam, Marill!" Annie shouted. The water mouse Pokémon blew out a line of bubbles. Caterpie closed its eyes while the bubbles stung with each pop that contacted its skin.

"String Shot?" Ness said. He didn't know anything about the Pokémon's moves and attacks. He watched Caterpie fire a silky thread that constricted and slowed down the Marill so it couldn't dodge.

"Ah… nice try. Marill, wash it off!" Annie exclaimed. Ness could see that nearby was a beautiful decent in size lake that had a bridge to go across. Marill happily dove into it to wash the sticky string coating its body off. The psychic teenager knew he had to be a bit more aggressive in this battle.

"Electroweb, Caterpie!" Ness ordered. Caterpie looked happy to use this move. It quickly began spitting out silky web as fast as it could, but it seemed far more energized. The web was sparking with electricity. The Marill popped up from the water, seeing it coming right at it, wide eyed. The Electroweb came in contact. Ness and Caterpie watched as the water sparked violently, stunning both trainers. When it ended, they saw Marill on its back in the water, unconscious.

"Oh my goodness! Marill!" Annie shrieked. Ness saw a few odd red fish emerge, knocked out in the water as well. He gulped, quickly picking up Caterpie in his arms and running across the wooden bridge across the lake, starting to realize how devastating a super effective move was in the wrong area.

"You did… good there, I think…" Ness muttered to the caterpillar in his arms. It looked proud to have done its duty in battle. Ness pulled out a Poké Ball and recalled it to let it rest. He saw up ahead, a road leading into a decently sized city. There were a lot of trees surrounding it and one big building stood out amongst the rest. The raven haired boy saw a sign at the entrance to the city. "Welcome to Rustboro City!"

"Huh… so this is where that first Pokémon is…" Ness told himself, looking at his Pokédex's radar. It was putting out that Petilil was in the town. The radar though was pointing to the right. He wondered why it was pointing to the biggest building in town, which was being labelled as the Devon Corporation. The teenage psychic didn't mind, heading toward the building, though he was noticing this part of the neighbourhood around the building that had a lot of buildings and alleys like it was the job section. The radar wasn't pointing him into the Devon Corporations building, though. Instead it was pointing to one of the many back alleys around it.

"Is anyone there?" Ness called out to the alley. The radar was pointing him down. The arrow that was blue pointing him around was now red and beeping slightly. He heard an odd noise and looked to his left. The side of the building looked like it was being used as a poor storage area. By a few stacks of wooden crates, he heard the noise again, not sure what to describe it as it sounded pained, but not agonizing, yet upset. He finally found where the noise was coming from. Ness climbed over some of the crates.

"There you are," Ness said, at last seeing the Petilil, a Pokémon that was a pure Grass type. She resembled a plant bulb with three dark green leaves on her head and around her neck. The poor Pokémon had gotten stuck under one of the crates, and she was crying. She looked relatively small in comparison to what the Pokédex had told him.

"C'mere, I got you," he reassured, moving the crate with ease and picking up the Petilil. She was nuzzling into his chest. He didn't mind the affection, rubbing her head, trying to calm her down. It was rather becoming clear that she was more of a newly hatched Pokémon. He could see some bruising on her, thinking she needed some medical attention.

"Don't worry. You'll be safe with me."


	26. Pokemon hunt part 4

Ness had carried the baby Petilil to the Pokémon Center. Red had informed him where to go if anything bad happened to his Pokémon. He was waiting right now in the comfortable waiting area that was mostly two long chairs around a glass table. He could see a few other trainers who were getting checked out. Ness already had the baby grass-type checked out by the nurse and right now he was sitting with the Petilil in his arms. He didn't know how to treat a baby Pokémon, but so far he hadn't been wrong.

"Hey. Maybe we should have something to eat?" Ness offered, seeing her look up at him. He pulled out his other Poké Balls, opening them, letting Gardevoir and Caterpie come out. The caterpillar appeared beside him and the psychic appeared beside him in the seat.

"Hey, you two. I want you to meet our new friend, Petilil," the teenage psychic introduced them. The Caterpie let out an odd noise, indicating its pleasure with more friends. It reminded Ness of Kirby a lot by how cheerful it was. Gardevoir on the other hand looked uninterested.

"Garde," she said, welcoming it flatly. Ness rummaged around in his bag and pulled out the Oran Berries. He had found earlier there were enough for all of them. He gave one to Caterpie who happily began eating away. Gardevoir ate the thing whole in three bites. Ness however noticed the Petilil giving him an upset look.

"Right… baby," he mentally muttered, wishing he had inquired more into how old the Pokémon were from Red, but since he had taken his Pokédex, he definitely had no way to contact him. He rested the Petilil down and he broke the berry into three pieces. One thing that somewhat annoyed him was that he had to feed her by hand while she lightly nibbled on the berry. Ness was never good with babies. True that he had helped one of his old friends with toddlers at her parents' day care a lot, but this was different. He finally saw the nurse who had examined the baby Pokémon. She had bright pink hair and was in a white uniform. She was known as Nurse Joy, the all common Pokémon Center operator.

"Oh hey, Nurse Joy. Is everything okay?" Ness asked, picking the Petilil up in his arms while she happily ate. Nurse Joy had a smile.

"Yes. She just has a small bruise. She'll be fine. You have quite the rare Pokémon for this region. Please take care," Nurse Joy told him. Ness was relieved to know she wasn't in need of further medical attention. He recalled Caterpie to its Pokéball before getting up.

"Thanks again, nurse. Come on, Gardevoir, we need to get going while there's still light outside," the teenage psychic insisted. She looked reluctant to even consider following him, but she was aware she would get recalled to the Pokémon if she didn't comply. She got up and followed him out of the Pokémon Center.

"So Gardevoir… mind if I ask why you dislike me?" Ness tried to strike up conversation while they were exiting Rustboro and heading onto the next route which was mostly tall grass that they had to go around. The young boy was being well warned pre-emptively to avoid it from Red. The Petilil was resting, snugly in his arms. The baby Pokémon was taking to him decently thus far. The Gardevoir kept a straight face.

"Garde- gardevoir," the Psychic/Fairy-type said, the two coming to a halt and staring at one another. He understood what she said that time, and he was not sure how to feel about it.

"You really want me to allow you… in my head to remind me?" he repeated what he heard from her. The green haired Pokémon nodded. This was definitely what she wanted. Ness looked down at the Petilil and back up at her.

"You need to remember one thing; if you do anything to me, you're not just getting some freedom for yourself. You're putting this and the other Pokémon that escaped in danger. Red will hunt you down," Ness warned, aware how dangerous psychics could be when they allow one another into their minds. They could do a lot of damage; mentally torture them or assault their brains. Gardevoir shook her head, claiming she didn't have any intention to put a newborn Pokémon in danger like that, and he did want to get to the bottom of why she hated him. He nodded, taking his red cap off his head putting it on the Petilil for the moment.

"Hold that for me," Ness requested, seeing the baby Pokémon, happy to be wearing the hat. Gardevoir approached him. He had to be brave as her cold hand touched the side of his head. There was nothing but silence between the two. The psychokinetic powers they possessed were talking now. The young boy started to remember now with her help. It all came back to him, what he had done. When she took her hand away, his eyes opened, feeling guilty. Ness looked down at the Petilil who was wearing his red cap and staring at him happily.

"I did that? …I… I know I do a lot for my friends… but that sounds worse than usual of me… I must have made myself forget," Ness declared.

"Look… I'm sorry… it wasn't of any anger toward you and you should know that," he added quickly. Gardevoir had a small smile, becoming a lot more calm, knowing the incident that he had caused was not his fault. It was another favour from Red he had done a long time back, when the Pokémon Trainer was actually a brawler in the Smash Mansion. He had requested from Ness to do one thing, which was to mentally force some Pokémon to calm down if they were going out of control with his psychic powers. But Ness couldn't remember it that well, because that seemed more like a no choice matter. The only one he couldn't stop was Gardevoir back then. He knew how aggressive she used to be.

"Here. Hold her please," Ness said, handing over the Petilil to Gardevoir. She took the baby Pokémon with a smile. Ness pulled out his Pokédex and looked at the radar, seeing the next two targets. They were together, luckily. One was a "Litwick", and judging by its picture, it was a ghostly candle. The other was a penguin Pokémon known as a "Piplup". Ness thought it was a lucky break to get two at once. He looked at the Pokédex and saw the arrow on the screen pointing straight the direction they were going. He took his red cap away from the baby Pokémon and fixed it back on his head.

"Come on, we should hurry."


	27. Pokemon hunt part 5

Ness and co had traveled through a good bit of tall grass and were currently venturing inside of a small tunnel that was called Rusturf Tunnel. It was straight forward and a lot of crushed boulders lay around, though so far the only Pokémon inhabiting the cave were odd looking eyeless bats, resting on the ceiling. Petilil was happy so far. Gardevoir and Ness were just making haste to get to the other side of the cave to get out. They were mostly following the radar on the Pokédex, hoping everything would be okay for the other two Pokémon that were nearby. They finally saw the light at the end of the tunnel.

"Huh… it looks kind of nicer than Rustboro," Ness commented. The tunnel had led them to a small town with a sign in front of the tunnel exit. "Welcome to Verdanturf Town!" Verdanturf was nice, but it merely looked like a Pokémon center next to the Pokémart and a couple of small homes. Ness looked down at the Pokédex radar. It was pointing to some odd red building that was something called a Contest Hall, judging by the sign on the entrance.

"Contests for Pokémon? That sounds… weird," Ness stated, looking down at the baby Petilil that seemed pretty happy right now. Gardevoir never was a fan of the contests. There were various types to show off a Pokémon's strength, or brains, or charm and various other categories. It felt pointless to her that and half the time Pokémon and trainers cheated in the contests. The small group went inside with the teenage psychic, seeing a lot of trainers with their Pokémon standing around machines, doing something with their berries. It appeared the radars arrow was pointing to another room, but it was now red in color, flashing, indicating that they were very close.

"Here, you hold her," Ness said. He was feeling weird around Gardevoir, ever since he allowed her to exchange mentally with their telepathic abilities. He was feeling a lot more relaxed and calm. He handed the baby Petilil over to her. She seemed happy to watch the young Pokémon. The two got along well. The boy in the red cap went into the other room, leaving the two behind.

"…what in the name of Crazy Hand…?" Ness's eyes widened, seeing the room ahead. It was mostly dedicated to previous contest winners, revealing pictures of the trainers standing right to the winning Pokémon in each picture frame that lined the walls of the bunch, though what was drawing Ness's attention was more toward the center of the room. It was a tiny blue penguin like Pokémon that had dark blue fur on its back and light blue on the front. It looked angry, wearing a green bow tie. The psychic teenager saw some kind of glass cube that was encasing the penguin Pokémon, like a glorified prison. The pedestal it was on top of the glass cube had writing on it which Ness then read.

"Wh-what?! You're the prize for the winner of the smartness competition?" Ness couldn't believe what he read, but the Piplup nodded. Whoever wrote this wasn't kidding. The young boy though had seen this type of casing before. An old smash mansion brawler that used to be around, named Solid Snake had taught him many certain stealth facts, such as disarming traps or how to have a keen eye for them, but Ness could tell easily that this was a pressure based alarm. If anyone lifted the glass, it would just set off an alarm. He knew how to handle it though.

"Look, Red sent me. I can get you out, but you have to work with me," he whispered. The water Pokémon jumped happily. The Piplup personally hated dressing up for contests, but it did love the bow tie it was wearing, glad it hadn't been forced to dawn any other cosmetics. Ness put his hands on the glass case. He made sure no one else was in the room. Thankfully, everyone was more preoccupied outside, signing up to enter the contest. With a grin, Ness got ready.

"PK Freeze!" Ness unleashed a strong force of ice from his hands, freezing the sides of the glass box. It became heavier and weighted down more. He then bashed the top of it with his baseball bat, cracking it.

"Your turn," Ness said. The Piplup happily took the opportunity for its freedom back. Its beak glowed a bright light. It used the move, Drill Peck, smashing the top of the glass. Thankfully, the entire thing didn't fall apart. The ice held the rest of the case firmly in place and was enough to not set off the alarms.

"Pip! Piplup!" the Piplup chirped happily, hugging his leg with all of its gratitude. He smiled, glad to know that it was thankful for the rescue. He picked it up.

"You need to hide until we get out, okay?" he asked. The penguin nodded, letting him hide it. Ness opened his bag and let it climb inside. He knew there was plenty of room, with not many items in there beyond a few Pokéballs. He casually walked out of the portrait hall and returned to his other Pokémon, seeing Gardevoir and Petilil by one of the odd spinning devices that berries were being thrown into.

"Come on, we need to leave, now!" Ness hastily whispered, ushering the Psychic/Fairy out, confusing her somewhat why her trainer wanted them out of the contest hall quickly. The Petilil didn't seem to mind, though she was half asleep. The raven haired boy led Gardevoir far away from the contest hall. When they finally got far enough away, he felt calmer, the small group finding themselves in front of a Daycare Center.

"Garde?" Gardevoir chimed, wondering if her temporary trainer was alright. Ness waved his hand, motioning her not to worry. He opened his bag, Piplup emerging from it.

"Meet one of the other escapees."


	28. Pokemon hunt part 6

Ness had aided the Piplup in climbing out of the bag which he had hidden it inside to escape the contest hall. Gardevoir was a little surprised, but easily recognized the Pokémon.

"Gardevoir," she smirked. The Piplup growled back. Ness could only translate the comment into something about the tie that the penguin Pokémon was wearing. He crouched down and tried to remove the apparel from it, but the water type smacked his hand away.

"Piplup!" Piplup chirped. Ness rubbed his hand, sorely having second thoughts about ever helping Red again. With matters this grand in scale, they were starting to become very annoying. He hadn't been informed either of much to the information or status of the escaped Pokémon he had to hunt down, which didn't make things better.

"Oh, sorry. I thought you were forced to wear that too," Ness apologized to the tiny penguin. The baby Petilil that Gardevoir held in her arms had gotten tired and fallen sleep completely. Ness pulled out a Poké Ball and held it out for Piplup.

"Come on. Red misses you," he said. The Water-type saw no reason not to go with him since there was going to be a massive hunt for him when the Contest Hall finds out they had busted him out. Piplup touched the Poké Ball and vanished into it with a bright red light. The ball shook in Ness's hand for a second but it eventually stopped and made a noise, indicating its capture. He pocketed the Poké Ball and looked at the Pokédex radar to see where the Litwick was.

"Huh? This is odd…" Ness commented. Gardevoir looked at the radar with him. It was pointing right behind them.

"Garde?" the Psychic/Fairy chimed, wondering if he had any idea why, though they could see that they were standing right by a Daycare for Pokémon. Specifically, that was where it was pointing to.

"Oh… there it is," the raven haired boy was relieved, seeing the Litwick in the daycare which was playing with other Pokémon that were waiting to be picked up by their trainers, though Ness assumed that the tiny candle had snuck into the daycare and the owner didn't notice, judging by how he was standing nearby, looking quite old for his age. Ness scratched his head, not sure what to do for this matter. He didn't want to look like a thief any more after he had already broken into the contest hall for the benefits of these Pokémon.

"Well, I got no ideas. Do you have any?" he reluctantly asked the female Pokémon. Gardevoir thought for a second and nodded. She handed over the sleeping Petilil and approached the old man with a smile. Ness could only watch from afar. He wasn't entirely sure what she was doing, but as he watched, the elderly daycare owner had suddenly fallen asleep in broad daylight.

"Garde-gardevoir," Gardevoir said, having used her psychic powers to do something to the old man, but it didn't look harmful, so Ness couldn't muster up any more worry. He gave her the baby Petilil once again before climbing the fence. Ness had to dodge and slip by a dozen of other Pokémon that were inside the day care of all sizes, before he finally got to the Litwick.

"Whew… hey there, little guy. Red sent me for you," he explained. The candle looked happy enough for where it was right now, having been in the day care for quite a long time. The place provided food shelter and all sorts of other aid if need be, so the Ghost/Fire-type was reluctant to go anywhere, let alone leave the place. It had been treating as its own home.

"Of course you want to battle…" Ness muttered, pulling out a Poké Ball and throwing it, Piplup appearing from a bright light in front, aware that it had to battle now. Ness pulled out his Pokédex so he could at least see what moves the penguin knew. Ness recalled one thing Red had told him specifically, and that was how pathetically easy battles were with the right type weakness. In fact, he heard a lot of snide comments from his friend about how a lot of trainers normally couldn't comprehend this.

"Right here we go. Piplup, Water Gun!" Ness ordered. The Piplup nodded, letting out a strong blast of water from its mouth that sprayed the small candle. It cringed in agony from the super effective move. The Litwick retaliated by emitting a heavy wave of flames that circled around Piplup. The move was Fire Spin, which burnt the penguin lightly but didn't do much.

"Red was right… This is pathetic…" the teenage psychic rubbed his arm, feeling a lot like a bully to the Litwick fighting it like this, but it had escaped so he had to do what had to be done.

"Right use Bubble," Ness ordered. Ppiplup nodded, firing a bunch of tiny bubbles that popped with a sharp sting all around the candle. Afterwards, the Litwick tilted over, landing on the ground, falling unconscious from the super effective moves. Gardevoir had been watching from the other side of the fence. She found it boring to watch, to say the least. Ness pulled out a Poké Ball and threw it at the Litwick, watching it get absorbed inside by a red light. The Poké Ball shook three times, but it was caught.

"Good work, Piplup," Ness said to his new teammate, happily. The penguin jumped for joy before getting recalled to his own Poké Ball. Ness was relieved since there was only one Pokémon left. He came over to Gardevoir while the daycare owner was still asleep.

"The last one should be in the next town…" Ness muttered, looking at his Pokédex. The last Pokémon was called a Bellossom. It didn't look that tough to him. He smiled, pocketed the Pokédex and the baby Petilil from Gardevoir. It was still slumbering peacefully like the noise of the battle had barely affected it.

"Let's hurry so we can get back to Red," Ness exclaimed. Gardevoir nodded, she didn't disagree with him so far but something was still bothering him in the back of his mind. He just ignored it while the two began to walk toward the next town.

"It's starting to get dark…"


	29. Pokemon hunt part 7

Ness and Gardevoir had walked a short way from the daycare and were noticing the sunset that was darkening the sky. The sun was near gone and the street lights were turning on in the town they were entering. They found a sign that read, "Welcome to Mauville City". Ness wanted to get the last Pokémon so he could get back to the mansion. He looked at the Pokédex's radar. The arrow was pointing to the right toward a building that was quite flashy. A lot of lights were going and people seemed drawn to it.

"Whoa… what is that?" Ness asked. Gardevoir was rocking the baby Petilil in her arms gently to try and make sure she stayed asleep. The Psychic/Fairy Pokémon looked displeased at the building.

"Gardevoir," she simply stated. Ness scratched his head.

"A game corner casino…? Why would it be in there?" he wondered aloud, but the radar's the arrow was turning redder the closer they got. He pocketed the Pokédex. They could hear the sound of various gamblers cheering excitedly like they were drowning out the actuality that they were going to go bankrupt tonight, though as the small group entered inside, they could see a lot of slot machines, some odd spin the wheel game and various card games. All of which gave a somewhat loud atmosphere.

"Keep your eyes out," Ness said, though he wondered where to begin looking. It wasn't the biggest casino he had seen, but the teenage psychic did notice something. A man that looked like he was in his late twenties was unconscious, at his slot machine like the screen was his pillow, but it looked unnatural like he had suddenly blacked out and fell onto the gambling device, but no one cared. He suddenly heard a clunk noise that sounded like metal being hit lightly.

"Take care of her," Ness ordered to Gardevoir, wanting her to take care of the baby Petilil right now that was wide awake from the noises, and clearly upset from it. The green haired Pokémon sighed and nodded, watching her temporary trainer go off to check out the noise.

"What in the name of Magicant?" Ness muttered in confusion, seeing three people lying asleep on some of the slot machines, too. Two were women and one was a man. It looked like their pockets had been picked and their purses had been pilfered. He did then see something odd toward the end of the slot machines, someone who was looking away from his addictive gambling, only to be hit by odd purple spores that instantly knocked him off his stool.

"Hey!" Ness ran over, realizing that these people weren't blacking out on their own. He found the cause of it, seeing a tiny Pokémon that looked small and had a dress made out of leaves, with two red flowers on its head. He knew this was the Bellossom like his Pokédex told him, the last Pokémon Red had sent him to find. It was holding a bag over its shoulder full of money.

"What you're doing is a big crime. These people are already going to lose a lot of money tonight, and you're not helping," the raven haired boy declared. The Bellossom though was barely paying attention to him while feeling through the newest wallet she had stolen. He crouched down to its height, a little angry at her.

"Look, Red sent me to get you. Just stuff the money back in the people's pockets or something and let's go," Ness demanded, but Bellossom looked annoyed, putting the newest stolen money in her somewhat full bag. She spun around and unleashed a cloud of yellow spores at him that blasted him in the face. He fell backwards, landing on the carpeted floor. Ness instantly felt numb. He felt like he had been hit by a light drug from a hospital. The grass Pokémon giggled, seeing the surprised expression on him before it ran away to continue its thievery.

"PK Heal!" Ness shouted, healing himself in a light green aura. He hated being numb. He had experienced the feeling so many times on his past adventure during battles. He pushed himself off the ground and began chasing after the tiny Grass type, though during mid-chase, he saw the Bellossom scatter random coins across the ground behind herself. Ness tried to run over them, but suddenly got tackled by about five different people clambering to grab the money off the ground.

"Get off me!" Ness growled, shoving one of the people off him, but two more just added onto the dogpile. He knew he had to get more aggressive to get out of this.

"PK Freeze!" the psychic shouted, releasing a strong burst of frost, freezing everyone around him into blocks of ice. He slid them off of himself and continued the pursuit, leaving onlookers a bit shocked to see the sudden human popsicles. When Ness finally caught back up, he realized that he had looped entirely to the casino entrance again. He saw the Bellossom unconscious on the ground. Gardevoir was standing in front of it.

"Whew… good work," Ness coughed, panting. The Psychic/Fairy-type had used a psychokinetic attack to mentally assault the Bellossom. She was still holding the baby Petilil, but she was much calmer now and trying not to cry. The young boy pulled out a Poké Ball and threw it, absorbing the Bellossom in a red light. The ball shook thrice before making a noise, indicating its capture.

"There! That's all the escaped Pokémon!" Ness cheered while putting the Poké Ball away, though he and Gardevoir were staring down at the bag of money on the ground. The boy in the red cap picked it up. He looked at Gardevoir with a grin. She was sharing the same look.

"Well, we have to give the money back. But nothing says how we have to…" Ness declared, wanting to have some fun. The baby Petilil was looking at the two confusedly, seeing him open the bag and throw it a good distance away. Money rained down from it and onto the floor, clattering and raining dollar bills. It only took seconds for a horrifically violent mosh pit to form before them. People fought for all the money to the point that it was like a mini riot and resulting in security being called. Ness and Gardevoir happily left the game corner.

"You ready to go home?" he questioned, taking the baby Petilil from her that was happy to be out of the loud area. Gardevoir nodded, ready to go back to the Smash Mansion. Ness recalled the Gardevoir to her Poké Ball and began to run in a straight line, faster and faster, until he suddenly vanished into a portal using his trusty PSI Teleport.


	30. Recovery

Ness reappeared outside the Smash Mansion, skidding to a halt from the portal he emerged from. PSI Teleportation definitely was fun to him. It was dark outside now, as he could see. He knew he had been away for a whole day, and he was drained because of it, but something else was wrong. He felt weaker, but he presumed it was tiredness. The teenage boy looked down at the baby Petilil that was looking around, curious to the environment. He went back inside the mansion, wanting to get the Pokémon back to Red, now that they were safely recaptured. He went back to the trainer's room, his bag slouched over shoulder while the newborn Pokémon was in hand. He entered into the room without knocking.

"Ness! Hey, welcome back," Red greeted, somewhat surprised to see his friend back, but smiled, seeing the little Petilil that looked happy to see its familiar trainer. He took the bag full of Poké Balls away and the baby Petilil in his arms.

"Yeah. I got them all, but it wasn't the easiest," Ness claimed. Red looked happy by this while he stroking the leaves of the Petilil. She enjoyed feeling his hand running her glorified hair.

"I'm sure it wasn't, but for someone with not much experience with Pokémon, you did great!" Red exclaimed happily. Sadly his friend in the red cap wasn't as happy as he was. He never wanted to be a Pokémon trainer himself. Red dug around in his pocket wanting to give him something as a token of his gratitude. He handed something tiny over to Ness.

"What is it?" Ness questioned, looking at it in his hand. The thing appeared to be a badge that looked like a glorified grey boulder. Red looked happy seeing it though.

"That was my first ever badge. I've earned a lot from my adventures, but I got that from Pewter City's Gym Leader, Brock," Red explained where he got the Boulder Badge from. It clearly looked like it had been through a lot in age. Ness didn't mind this. It looked like a good memento. He was not able to show much enthusiasm though with how tired he was.

"I need to go see Doctor Mario. You take care," the teenage psychic said, giving a small goodbye to the baby Petilil. She looked very sad to see him go, unfortunately. It only got worse once the raven haired boy left the room. The baby Grass-type began crying loudly. Red cringed, having forgotten how loud baby Pokémon could get.

Ness had went upstairs, heading straight for the doctor's office after he had dropped off the Boulder Badge in his room with the other mementos, though when the boy in the red cap entered the doctor's office, he saw Link leaving, looking like he had been partially traumatized by whatever Toon Link and Villager did to him.

"Welcome back, Ness. What brings you to my clinic this late?" Doctor Mario welcomed, seeing Ness hop onto the examination table tiredly and doing his best to keep his energy up. Ness at this point was feeling really bushed from all he had done for the past week or so, helping all his friends and smash mansion associates.

"Beyond my entire body hurting, I'm feeling tired, doc. I could get a full night's sleep, but when I wake up I still feel like I haven't rested," the teenager explained his symptoms that was his main problem. Doctor Mario scratched his head.

"Can I see some of your injuries?" the Italian doctor requested. Ness nodded, taking off his shirt. Most of his injuries had been occurring on his body. Doctor Mario was surprised to see the huge sword mark on the young boys back, as well as small scratches and bruises across his chest and stomach. Ness's hands looked not much better, either. His knuckles were bruised, and while his hands were only partially cut, they still hurt, too.

"…Alright, redress. And one more thing, have you been travelling a lot?" Doctor Mario queried while Ness put his shirt back on.

"Yeah. I've been going to a few of the others worlds…" he nodded. He enjoyed seeing the others' worlds, but he was feeling awful lately. He doubted he would be able to brawl right now if someone challenged him, or at least it wouldn't be his full strength.

"Well that's the problem, Ness. You can't travel so much consistently. When you do, the portals start to not work right. They send you to unsafe areas and can mess with your injuries, and most importantly, it takes your energy each time. Most people don't notice because no one travels that often," Doctor Mario elaborated the combination of Ness's wounds and warping. So much was affecting his body in actuality, with how it reacted to the portals. Ness knew brawls were far different matters of the subject. Ness sighed, knowing if his mother ever saw any scars left from these brawls, she will be upset. He never wanted to imagine his family's reactions to his permanent injuries.

"Does this mean I won't be allowed to brawl anymore?" Ness hesitantly forced his voice, knowing there was warping involved in brawling as well. He didn't want to think his minor career as a fighter was done for. Doctor Mario waved a hand, insisting him to relax. He dug around in one of his many cabinets and pulled out a pill bottle, throwing it to him. The pills were green capsules, and there were a lot.

"Take those three times a day for a month, and you'll be able to warp without a problem. They should help you warp easier too, afterwards," the doctor insisted, watching Ness pull out one of the many pills and take one, putting it into his mouth. He knew this meant he wouldn't be able to brawl as often for a month, but he nodded, accepting the advice.

"Thanks, doc. I'll see you around," the psychic teenager bid him goodnight before leaving the doctor's clinic. He went straight back to his room, feeling a blend of tiredness and depression, if it was not just one of the two. He re-entered his room, where he saw Toon Link lying in bed, looking very happy in his sleep. Ness could see his empty bed, assuming Kirby went back to his room with Villager. The teenager crawled into his bed and lay his head down on the pillow, lost in his mind entirely about if he could keep helping people so often. He knew what his father would always tell him.

"Always a hard worker… Just like mom…"


	31. Puppy help part 1

A month had passed at the Smash Mansion. Ness had been following the exact orders from the doctor for the pill regiment. He didn't tell any of his friends, though. They were all concerned for him when he began turning down brawls and usual fun pass times. Right now the teenage boy was heading for another room on the second floor, bright and cheerful. He had finished the medication last night, and like Doctor Mario had told him, they had made him feel healthier. His wounds had healed a lot, but there still was some scarring left, especially on his back. Ness arrived to one of the rooms at the end of the hall, knocking eagerly, but there was a lack of response.

"Samus? You awake?" Ness called, but then noticed that the door was slightly creaked open. He looked over his shoulder, seeing no one really nearby that could see him. He headed inside the room, closing the door behind him. The room was decent in size, containing a big set of orange power armour against the wall. The room was fuller of electronics than most. Ness could see the familiar blonde girl, though this time she didn't have her hair up. Samus's hair was loose and reaching her shoulders in length, though did look messy. She was sitting on the floor against her bed. Ness was confused why the blonde woman was so happy right now. Her roommate was gone, too.

"Oh! Ness, uh… hey, sorry. I didn't hear you knocking," Samus apologized, though Ness was amazed that she ignored the part about him barging in without any warning. Normally if anyone did, they would be beaten up and kicked out of the room in seconds.

"Are you okay?" the raven haired boy asked, hearing a light bark. He saw a tiny puppy crawling out from under the other bed, pulling a small rope. The dog had black and white fur. Ness could easily identify it as a husky pup, a Nintendog that was usually kept in another part of the mansion entirely.

"I should be asking you that since you haven't fought lately…" Samus responded. The husky puppy brought the small rope to her. She smiled, grabbing the rope, watching the puppy begin tugging and pulling, playing tug of war with the bounty hunter.

"Right… I wanted to change that. I came to ask you to a brawl… but… I didn't know you had a pet," Ness claimed. It was weird to see the soft side to her. He never saw her as the animal type. The husky let go of the rope, climbing onto her lap, barking. Samus stroked the puppy's back, calming it down.

"You see, he was causing a lot of trouble with the other Nintendogs… So I kind of took him in," she explained. So far it was nothing but joy with the dog. She picked up the puppy and rested him on her bed. The husky was tired, lying down on it.

"But yeah. We can go battle," Samus agreed to his offer of a brawl while fixing her hair back into a ponytail. She didn't mind spending time with the younger Smash Mansion inhabitants. They were the ones she could relax and get along with the most. Samus rubbed Ness's head, glad he was turning back to normal instead of withdrawing from everybody. The two left the room to go fight, though they didn't know that Samus's door was broken. It wouldn't close right. The husky puppy's ears twitched. It looked around, realizing that she was gone. It jumped off the bed, yipping. The dog entered the hallway, whimpering, realizing his owner was nowhere to be seen. The puppy saw the stairs going up, heading to the next floor, searching for Samus.

"Alright. Let's do this," the dog heard nearby, seeing King Dedede and Doctor Mario standing alongside each other in front of a door that had an odd symbol of a ball with a cross cut through it, symbolising the smash ball. This door led to the Smash Run stage.

"I just need an excuse to stretch my legs, so let's make it quick," the Italian doctor insisted. The two unaware of the puppy behind them. Dedede put the key into the door and turned, the lock clicking. The door opened, revealing the portal within. They stepped inside, but afterwards, the puppy jumped in behind them. When they all vanished in the portal, the door slammed shut.


	32. Puppy help part 2

Ness was walking alongside Samus. Both of them looked a bit battered and bruised, but they were laughing and smiling while talking of the fight the two had just been through against one another. Needless to say, Samus had won, but Ness did put up a great fight while he could. Once they were outside the galactic bounty hunter's room, she yawned.

"Well, it was fun hanging out with ya, but I'm going get some rest," she said. Ness nodded, understanding.

"Yeah. Good fight! I'll beat you next time," Ness grinned, hoping he would win the next brawl. She couldn't help but smile around the teenage psychic's new confidence. It was nice since he was normally nowhere near that confident in his own strength. Ness, though, didn't get two steps before he saw Samus's door fly open again.

"Ness! Scout isn't in my room!" she frantically spoke, grabbing him by the shoulders. The teenage psychic was confused, not knowing of anyone named Scout, though he recalled her dog.

"You named your dog Scout?" he repeated, more curious to why she named the puppy that. She nodded, the puppy had somehow gotten out of the room and it was obvious how uneasy she was imagining this. Ness was becoming uneasy actually seeing her like this.

"A-alright, Samus, calm down. We should go ask around. I'm sure Scout couldn't have gotten far," Ness told her. It took a moment, but she regained her composure. She nodded, calm and collected.

"Right. I'll go ask downstairs and meet up with you after," she declared, before walking off to get downstairs, thinking she was worrying herself over nothing. Ness however could already feel that familiar voice in the back of his head, warning him to keep his mouth shut more, but he ignored that feeling a lot. Ness went off to ask some of the other smashers about the puppy.

It only took a minute for Ness to get to his room where he came across his roommate, though he did see Toon Link, who he noticed was packing his bag, which confused him.

"Toon Link? What are you doing?" the boy in the red cap queried from his roommate.

"Oh hey, Ness. Well, I'm moving in with Villager. I figured I needed to hang out with other people more. Don't get me wrong, you're a great guy, but still…" Toon Link explained the best he could, about the reason behind why he was becoming Villager's new roommate. Ness didn't feel like he was getting the full story, though he rubbed his head.

"So… this means Kirby is going to be my roommate?" he rhetorically asked, getting the idea that the pink puffball would inevitably become his roommate. Toon Link nodded.

"Yeah. Don't worry, you know he adores you," the blonde haired teenager laughed, having packed all of his items from the room. He headed toward the door, but was stopped midway.

"Have you seen a dog, by the way? Samus's went missing…" Ness questioned, wanting to know if he had any information to share, knowing that Toon Link had his own reasons for moving to another room. Kirby would be a fine roommate, but he knew this meant a lot of bed sharing.

"Uh, yes and no. I heard barking from upstairs, but that's about it. Good luck hunting it," Toon Link laughed, leaving the room. Ness felt somewhat depressed. He was curious if his roommate had moved out because of something he did, though he shook it off, aware he was too busy helping Samus, but then the psychic boy did have a realization.

"Wait… upstairs?!" he blurted out in horror, darting out of the room and charging down the hall, heading up the steps at top speed and climbing up to the third floor. Each foot step thumping the steps were loud. Ness saw Doctor Mario and Dedede talking to each other. They both looked tired and beaten up.

"Whoa! What happened to you two?" Ness asked, so far not seeing any evidence of a dog upstairs thus far around the portal doors. He was worried that the puppy had went into one of the portals. The Italian doctor shrugged.

"We did a Smash Run and he won…" Doctor Mario admitted, sighing. Dedede had a smug grin over it. They both had put up a hard fight in the Smash Run. It was where a group of two to four people raced one another, battling monsters to gain strength and power from odd stickers. The challenge at the end however was always different.

"Oh, nice… Anyway, can you please tell me you two have seen a dog around here?" Ness pleaded, really hoping that the dog had not gotten away into any of the portals. The king penguin did seem stumped at the question.

"Oh! There was a dog in our Smash Run. I thought it was weird, but the thing ran away before I could smash it," the king declared. The young boy buried his face in his hands. His fear was confirmed, the puppy had escaped and went into the portal to the Smash Run world, and no one could enter that alone. There had to be at least two to four people. Ness took his red cap off his head and scratched his somewhat messy hair, annoyed.

"Great. Go find Samus for me, please," Ness requested, leaning against the wall and sliding to the floor, tiredly. Doctor Mario nodded, knowing he had to get back to his own clinic anyway, leaving King Dedede and Ness alone to get the bounty hunter.

"So… Samus has a dog?" King Dedede tried to strike up conversation. His young associate though just waved his hand, brushing the topic aside. This was going to be annoying to hunt a tiny puppy down in a big dangerous area that could shred them to pieces if they weren't cautious enough, but death was not that much of a threat in Smash Run, to the smash mansion inhabitants, anyway.

"You know, Samus is probably going to kill you when she finds out, right?"


	33. Puppy help part 3

Ness waited for a few minutes with King Dedede. The young boy was wondering where the galactic bounty hunter was, but they heard a loud stomping that was all too familiar. The sound of metal hitting the floor each step. They saw Samus at the top of the stairwell, now in her power armor. The orange power suit was very intimidating to the king. Ness was able to stay calm though, as he had seen enough people brutalized by her to have gotten used to it. He couldn't see Doctor Mario anywhere, so he assumed that the doctor took his chance to get out of this situation.

"Hey, Samus… I-I found your do-" King Dedede got cut off when she grabbed him by his shirt and forced him against the wall. That green visor covering her face did not hide her anger well at all.

"Don't even try. Doctor Mario already told me," Samus growled. Dedede was annoyed the doctor had informed her entirely about how the overweight penguin, had attempted to smash the puppy in the Smash Run for power up boosts. Dedede was sweating now, and Ness knew it was better to save the king's life for now.

"Save it, Samus," the teenage boy stepped in between the two friends. Samus took a step back reluctantly, letting go of the king penguin. Dedede was panting in fear, thankful to the black haired boy.

"The longer we wait here, the longer Scout could be in danger. So how about we all just work together to get through this as fast as we can?" Ness suggested aware that if he didn't find some way to have King Dedede find a way to make it up to Samus, he would be in the clinic within the next few minutes.

"Ye-yeah! What the brat said! I'll gladly help track your dog!" Dedede very quickly agreed. Samus nodded, not disagreeing with her friend. Ness was glad that they were in agreement. He grabbed the key beside the door and put it into the lock, hearing the door click before opening it up and revealing the portal before them. The three of them entered inside the portal, all vanishing. The door slammed shut behind them and locked once they had entered.

Ness could see nothing but darkness again. It had been a decent bit of time since he had last went to another universe, but the dark surrounding him did feel as calm as before. When the darkness began to vanish, the teenager found himself standing alone on a grass flat land. He looked around the see a clear blue sky, where the few clouds were the only real prominent thing sticking out. Ness darted off, aware how Smash Run worked. He only had a few minutes to hunt down the dog or else he would have to keep coming back over and over until they did find it. As if Samus's anger wasn't enough motivation enough for him, but he didn't mind helping. It had been a while since he did a Smash Run, but he never enjoyed them too much, either.

Ness had only ran a few feet, when he had entered to a cavern area that was being illuminated by mostly torches. He saw two Shy Guys jumping and rushing at him to try and attack, but Ness simply dodged and punched the first one, sending it flying and leaving a few stickers on the ground. Before the other Shy Guy could retaliate, Ness kicked the short enemy in the face, cracking its mask and sending it flying also, leaving even more stickers around. But then, Ness felt a stinging pain hit his shoulder. It was so sudden, but the psychokinetic boy got hit the back of his right shoulder.

"Of course. A Starman…" Ness muttered bitterly, seeing what had shot him. It was a Starman, a sleek silver designed alien with a black visor. The Starman had a red laser shoot from its visor. He knew he had to counter before it could land. Starmen PSI was some of the strongest PSI in existence.

"PK Fire!" Ness shouted, firing a bolt of fire that collided with the Starman's attack. They cancelled each other out, however, clashing and spewing random sparks of fire around the area, lighting part of the ground on fire. The teenage psychic wasn't going to wait for his enemy to fire again, running up and punching the Starman in the visor, breaking it and knocking the shiny alien flat on its back. Stickers fell out of the defeated Starman. Ness ignored them, seeing a small platform suspended above a pit. He jumped in blind leaps of faith, the thing he hated the most since it was nothing but darkness.

Ness fell for a good distance until he landed on a small spring that cushioned his fall. He was in a deeper cave now, but it was somewhat red and only had platforms and springs. The floor beneath was nothing but odd burning blocks that seemed to burn for a few seconds before stopping. He heard an all too familiar barking coming from the end of the hot cave. Ness was already somewhat sweating, feeling the beads of sweat drip down his forehead. He never liked fiery environments. He leaped from one platform to the next. He could take the partially unsafe route below, but he didn't want to bother jumping up and down that often.

"There you are!" Ness exclaimed in relief as he then saw the familiar husky puppy who was sitting at a platform by a spring, panting. The dog was kind of lucky, It had fallen in the pit, disallowing it from escaping. The young boy happily picked up the puppy. The dog licked him, glad to see a familiar face. He laughed, petting the dog. It reminded him a lot of his own pet at home, King, a more aged and lazier dog, but he still cared for the animal.

"Now… how are we going to get out?" Ness wondered aloud while holding the puppy, looking around until he saw a nearby spring that seemed to bounce into another spring and so on. Ness sighed in frustration, aware where this was going. He took his backpack off his back and opened it.

"You sit tight in here. We're going for a little bit of a bouncy ride," Ness warned, the dog barking in response. Ness closed the backpack and slung it over his shoulders. He jumped onto the first spring, being sent flying to the ceiling and bumping into another spring that launched him toward the floor, only to hit another spring. One spring after another, Ness felt sicker the more he bounced. After about eight more springs and being sent flying everywhere, Ness got thrown out at the other end of the cave, falling from the sky once again.

"Oh, dang it…"


	34. Puppy help part 4

Ness was falling from a high height in the sky. He knew he had some time to think. He only idea he could think of was use his PK Thunder to somewhat aid him in lightening his fall before he landed, but he would still hit the ground hard no matter what in that sense. However he was relieved to see a big, floating wooden barrel that he landed into. The barrel cannon immediately fired him out across the sky. Ness went flying through another side entrance of one of the many tunnels, skidding across the rocky floor of the tunnel and then coming to a halt. He groaned as he sat up, rubbing his bruised cheek sorely. But his eyes then caught the sight of some odd crystals growing from the ceiling and floor of the dirt that were illuminating the tunnels.

"Hah! Take that, you monkey!" a familiar voice rung out. Ness recognized it as King Dedede's voice. He darted off down the tunnel, aware that he had no other direction to go, and he was not going to blindly dive back out into the open sky with a live dog in his backpack. Ness was more worried about protecting the husky puppy that was slumbering away calmly through the noise and running so far. When Ness arrived to where the king's voice had come from, he saw a thin grey platform above another pit that led deeper into the caves.

"Dedede!" Ness called after seeing the familiar king penguin, who was fighting with an oversized simian creature in a purple hat and shirt and a giant hammer. They were clashing hammers with one another, but Dedede looked relieved to see his young friend.

"Bout time, brat! Get this monkey off me!" Dedede shouted. Ness quickly ran up to the giant monkey, known to them as Bonkers. The young boy recognized it, mostly because he had heard Kirby talk a lot about how the monkey sent the pink puffball flying a lot.

"PK Fire!" the raven haired boy fired a bolt of fire that hit Bonkers in the face, engulfing it in flames. The monkey screeched in agony as fire erupted from him. Dedede grinned, seeing an opening now that his enemy's guard was down. He jumped up and spun around with his hammer. He swung, smashing Bonkers in the face and chest and sending it flying away in defeat. The overweight penguin panted tiredly.

"Whew… you saved my bacon, again kid. Please tell me you found that stupid dog," Dedede requested while putting away the hammer, praying that his young associate had found the puppy so Samus wouldn't kill them both. Ness gave a thumbs up to show he had captured the dog, relieving his royal ally, though he was starting to mentally ponder how often the king was going to need his aid if he kept getting into this sort of trouble.

"Let's go find Samus so I can get us out of here," Ness declared. King Dedede nodded, and the two of them ran off to an upward path of the tunnel. Smash Run was a little ridiculous in the sense. They were basically inside of one, huge floating island that had a swarm of enemies from all of the universes within it.

The two ran through the tunnel, having gone a good distance and bashed through a bunch of small enemies until they reached the surface once again. They heard a lot of explosive noises when they came to a small grassy terrain. Here they could see Samus who was off in the distance, appearing to be fighting two odd turret monsters that were firing at her. She was shooting missiles back in retaliation. They saw her get shot in the leg, forcing her onto one knee while they took aim.

"Samus!" Ness shouted. Dedede charged in, pulling back his hammer and letting it charge up fully before swinging, smashing away one of the guns on the turret and sending the whole contraption spinning erratically, shooting in all directions. It wound up shooting the other turret monster and destroying it. Samus aimed her arm cannon and fired a small missile that exploded on contact, blowing the other turret monster up. What was left of the two turrets were nothing but scrap.

"Thanks, guys. Did you find scout?" Samus inquired. Her leg hurt a lot, but she will get over it. The power armor protected her well enough on its own. Ness smiled, pulling his backpack off his back and opening it. The husky puppy emerged from inside, barking. Samus excitedly took off her helmet with a big smile.

"Scout! There you are," she sighed in relief, taking the puppy from his backpack into her arms. The dog nuzzled against her, seeming calm, though the husky dog acted like it had just gotten lost for a few minutes. It wasn't acting scared or anything.

"Thank you so much, Ness! I owe you one," Samus thanked the teenage psychic for helping find the dog safely. Ness was glad to help, and he got out mostly uninjured. He considered this a good time all around. King Dedede got annoyed, though.

"Hey! What about me!? I helped too!" the fat penguin exclaimed, but then gained a look from both of them that made him shut his mouth.

"Anyway… how about we get back to the mansion? I really don't want to fight anymore right now," Ness offered to take them all back to the Smash Mansion. Dedede and Samus agreed. With that the two followed behind Ness as he ran in a straight line, slowly gaining more speed until they vanished into a portal with PK Teleport.

The group reappeared outside of the Smash Mansion, skidding to a halt. This time they made a calm landing. Ness was relieved since the last few times he travelled to other universes and back, it always went poorly on the return trip.

"Well, it was fun hanging out with you both, but I want to go get something to eat," Ness claimed. He was hungry and tired, having spent most of his day helping Samus, but he was glad the puppy was safe, and seeing her happy like this was greater. She nodded, understanding this while petting the husky pup in her arms. Ness went inside so he could go rest after a good meal.


	35. Missing princess part 1

Ness had spent the rest of his day thus far, relaxing and brawling a few of the other smashers. He was happy to be able to fight once more, and he had Doctor Mario to thank for it, though right now the boy in the red cap was lying in his bed, just resting. It was mostly quiet. All he was doing was reading an old book he had from his own adventure the book, being titled "Overcoming Shyness". Admittedly this book had seen more use than he anticipated, when his old roommate Lucas used to be around. The book brought back good memories to how many times he tried to coheres his old friend, into being less hesitant and nervous, but it failed. Ness didn't care though. It was still fun trying.

"Poyo!" Ness suddenly heard, closing his book and seeing Kirby jumping on the other bed in the room. He was happy the pink puffball was his roommate now. The psychokinetic boy still couldn't shake the feeling that Toon Link had lied to him about his reasons for leaving, but he didn't want to stick his nose into Toon Links privacy searching for that reason. All he could do was hope that he hadn't done anything bad to the blonde boy. Ness smiled, for either way he enjoyed having Kirby around more now, though as predicted, he was still sharing a bed. The last time he had to share a bed remotely was when his younger sister was maybe four years old, when she was still afraid of lightning. The teenage boy's thought process, however, was interrupted by a knocking on their door.

"It's unlocked!" Ness called, throwing the book of Overcoming Shyness away in his nightstand drawer. Kirby stopped bouncing on the bed, aware it was rude to do so when guests were around. They saw the door open, revealing the familiar green plumber himself standing there.

"Um, hey, Ness. Hey, Kirby," Luigi greeted them both while coming inside, closing the door behind him. He looked worried, like something was ravaging away at the back of his mind.

"Hey, Luigi. Is something wrong?" Ness queried. He knew that it was normal for Luigi to be nervous, but the plumber seemed more worried than nervous today, so he knew something was wrong.

"Have… either of you two seen Princess Peach today?" the tall Italian asked, rubbing his arm as if he didn't want to hear the answer or was afraid of it.

"Poyo…" Kirby sadly spoke, having not seen his favourite princess either. Then again, the pink puffball practically stalked her whenever he heard that she was making cake, so there may be good reason for that.

"No. I haven't seen her in a week. Why is something wrong?" Ness pressed for more information. He knew the princess could probably take care of herself and they were worrying over nothing, but the boy in the red cap was aware that it wasn't just a princess in danger. It was the baby she was carrying, too. He knew she would never risk fighting hard if it put the unborn baby at risk.

"The last time me and my bro saw her was the other night, but I can't find her anywhere. And no one's seen Bowser lately, either," Luigi explained the reason behind his fears. Princess Toadstool had gone along with the ferocious koopa king. It was too big of a coincidence to ignore Bowser, the nemesis to Mario and the all too often kidnapper of Princess Peach. Bowser was weird to understand though. He threatened the Mushroom Kingdom constantly, and he and Mario had a still going grudge with each other, yet they still hung out a lot like nothing ever happened between their pasts. Ness could never understand it. This seemed like a good opportunity to find out.

"If Bowser did kidnap her, I don't think he's stupid enough to stay here," Ness stated. Luigi nodded.

"Ye-yeah! Me and Mario were about to head to the Mushroom Kingdom. But he wanted me to make sure we weren't going to go assault a castle for nothing… again," the Italian plumber explained, seeing the young boy get up from his bed and go to his closet, throwing a bunch of items out quickly before getting his baseball bat and yoyo. He put the yoyo in his pocket and put the bat on the side of his backpack before slinging the bag onto his back.

"I'm coming with you," Ness stated. Luigi didn't object to this. To him, the more help he had, the better.

"Poyo!" Kirby jumped, wanting to come with them, too, but Ness caught his pink friend mid jump, lightly laughing.

"Sorry, Kirby, but I think it'd be better if you stayed here," the raven haired boy insisted. Kirby looked disappointed, but understood. Ness hugged his pink friend tight, reassuring he will be back soon and they could go for a few brawls. He put Kirby down before following Luigi out the door to get upstairs, knowing this meant another portal trip. Ness was excited to see the Mushroom Kingdom, though he wished his first trip would be under better circumstances.

"Why do you wanna come so bad?" Luigi couldn't help, but ask he saw how serious Ness became the second he heard the princess had gone missing.

"I'm just worried for Peach," he claimed while they were walking down the hall to get to the steps. Luigi took his hat off, scratching his brown hair.

"I don't blame you. I know how close you two are," the plumber stated while they stopped midway on the staircase. This had gained Ness's curiosity. He wasn't entirely sure by what he meant.

"What do you mean, Luigi?" he requested for him to continue, wondering if this had anything to do with Princess Peach's pregnancy. He had informed her of it, sure, but that was only because Doctor Mario hated giving news to patients.

"Y'know how the princess's family line is. She doesn't have anyone left in her life beyond me, my brother and Toadsworth. She talks about you like you're her son, and the way everyone sees you two hanging out like you do…" Luigi's voice tampered off toward the end of his sentence. He didn't want to accidentally insult his psychic friend since a few times Ness did give Luigi nightmares in his sleep as a prank.

"Sh-she does? …I mean, she reminds me a lot of mom, but still…" Ness muttered. He never really thought the princess thought so closely of him. The two continued up the stairs in awkward silence going to one of the doors at the end of the halls.

"Look, let's focus on saving her right now."


	36. Missing princess part 2

Ness and Luigi had travelled to the third floor of the Smash Mansion. At one of the ends of the hallway lined with doors, they found an all too familiar man there. He was not that tall in height. In fact, he was a heavy, shorter than Luigi, but the man was wearing a red hat with a big M on it and blue overalls on top of a red shirt, and he had a moustache on his face under his somewhat big nose. Ness knew the man as Mario, the older brother to Luigi, and the man who had saved Princess Peach a lot and was an all-around honourable guy. A lot of people in the Smash Mansion liked the plumber. Ness never associated much with him though. They didn't have much in common beyond fighting, and that was more talking with fists than words.

"Well what did the others say, Luigi?" Mario asked, wondering if his brother had heard any different news in regards to the missing princess. Luigi shook his head.

"I'm sorry, Mario, but I asked the people who knew her best, and even they haven't seen her lately," Luigi grimly spoke. His brother took off his red cap, looking frustrated, aware this meant they had to go to the Mushroom Kingdom now. They didn't mind that, but the worry that Princess Peach was missing again was the main thing eating away at them. After processing the information he fixed his hat back on his head.

"Why are you here, Ness?" Mario asked, wondering why the young psychic was here. Ness shook the plumber's gloved hand.

"I came to help save Peach from Bowser! I figured you'd prefer me over Wario," Ness claimed, trying to make light of the situation. Mario laughed slightly. He couldn't disagree with the young boy. He appreciated the help nonetheless, though he too was aware of Ness's relationship with Princess Peach, the Italian plumber doubting that Luigi had begged the psychic to help them.

"You guys ready?" Ness questioned the brothers while grabbing the key by the door and putting it in the lock.

"Y-yeah, sure…" Luigi nervously admitted, already terrified at the thought of assaulting Bowser's home castle again.

"Let's a go!" Mario insisted. Ness smirked, turning the key in the lock before opening the door, unveiling another portal inside. One at a time, all three of them entered, each vanishing into the portal. Once they all had entered, the door slammed shut behind them.

This time, it wasn't darkness that welcomed the young boy, though it was odd. This time, he found himself standing on an open meadow, bright green as if morning had barely risen. He could see various huge mountains over the horizon, the bright white clouds in the sky, and a few random blocks around with question marks on them.

"Whoa. Where are we?" Ness wondered aloud, seeing Mario and Luigi lying around him on the ground. They were starting to wake up themselves. Clearly they had experienced the minor black out episodes that are standard with the portal warping. The teenage psychic could safely assume that they were at least near the Mushroom Kingdom.

"Oh, wow. We're in the Mushroom Plains…" Luigi groaned, his neck hurting due to him waking up using a rock as a pillow practically. This was the first time the brothers had appeared here from the portal. That was for sure.

"Is that good?" the young boy asked.

"No, not really. We gotta find the quick warp pipes in the Dry Dry Desert," Mario claimed, insisting that it was going to be the fastest way to get to Bowser's Castle. Otherwise they would have a lot more to traverse than just a grassy plains. Bowser always liked having his castle far away from the Mushroom Kingdom, since both kingdoms rulers despised one another immensely. Or at least that was what the reason used to be. Now there doesn't seem to be any. Mario had destroyed the King Koopa's castle hundreds of times, either way. The group began heading for the north to get going to the desert.

"So, Mario… mind if I ask you something?" Ness started conversation, knowing it would take some time, though occasionally in the walk he had to jump over a pit with the brothers. One wrong fall and he'd end up who knows where, and he didn't really want to imagine where.

"Sure, what is it?" Mario didn't mind the inquiry.

"I wanted to know why you and Bowser get along. From what Luigi told me, half the time it sounds like you and that turtle want to beat each other to death, yet you still don't fight much in the mansion," the raven haired boy elaborated his confusion, not wanting to offend him in any sense. It was probably a great thing that Mario and Bowser didn't fight half as much as they should. The Italian plumbers understood his confusion.

"We have a peace treaty. When we first got the invitations to the Smash Mansion, Princess Peach refused to believe that King Koopa would not have some under handed trick to assault the Mushroom Kingdom while we're all away. Even if he wasn't here he'd find some way to," the red plumber started, but Ness couldn't help but notice a minor contradiction in the explanation thus far.

"Yet a piece of paper with his handwriting on it made you feel safe?" he chirped, doubting that a treaty alone did it.

"Bowser isn't all bad. He's helped us a lot, really, too," Luigi admitted. Bowser had joined in on a fair share of their adventures with or without him, knowing the King Koopa had aided in saving the Mushroom Kingdom time and time again himself, even if it was for his own selfish needs.

"Yeah! If it wasn't for the kidnappings, I'd probably be nicer to him. But basically, both kingdoms agreed to live in harmony when King Bowser and Princess Peach are gone," Mario added, finishing the explanation. The peace treaty sounded flimsy at best. Ness did find it odd that Bowser agreed to it, too, but he was more worried about what the end result was going to be now that he had broken it and kidnapped the pregnant princess. Ness did consider telling the Mario brothers why he was concerned for Peach so much, but he didn't want to put blind fears in their heads. It was easier to worry for one person than two. The group was stopped however by something odd. They could see the huge desert in the distance and could already feel the searing heat from this distance, but the heard a voice that caught their attention.

"Stop right there!"


	37. Missing princess part 3

The three boys stood confused, seeing what had halted their progress. They saw two regular inhabitants to the land, one looking like a Koopa Troopa with a black helmet on and two hammers attached to his sides. Mario groaned as he saw him. He hated Hammer Brothers, mostly for how hard their hammers hurt. The other person that had stopped them was a purple Shy Guy. The mask it wore looked a bit creepy with a jagged broken grin, and it held some odd type of wand. Luigi and Ness were confused by what they were exactly doing, stopping them here.

"Um, can we help you?" Ness chimed, presuming this to be some kind of border checkpoint, judging by the brick blockade in the way. The Shy Guy was as quiet as all the other ones, though now the young boy didn't find it as cute as the others.

"We're the border guards to Dry Dry Desert! We've been advised not to allow anyone through due to trade route robbers," the Hammer Brother explained. Mario and Luigi looked at each other confusedly, having never heard much about thieves robbing trade couriers.

"But we're the Mario brothers. You can trust us," Mario declared, insisting he and his brother were the most trustworthy people in all the land, and that was probably a true fact. Ness however could tell by the way the guards were looking to each other, they were doubting it.

"Hah! We've heard that before! We aren't falling for that," the Hammer Brother laughed, presuming the two to be lying through their teeth about who they actually were.

"Are your identities stolen a lot?" Ness asked the Italian plumbers who initially wanted to say their identities were never stolen, but they knew better. There were a lot of people who had done it in the past, and they were probably still doing it now. They looked slightly ashamed.

"Right. Is there anything we can do to prove that they're actually Mario and Luigi?" Ness requested while fixing his hat straight, trying to keep his calm demeanor instead of blasting them away with PSI to save some time. He didn't want to be a fugitive to the land within hours of arriving to it in the first place. The Hammer Bro pulled one of his hammers off his side and tossed it in the air, catching it. The Shy Guy mimicked him as they pointed their weapons at the three.

"We can have a fight!" he said. Ness wasn't happy about this.

"So beating you two to pulp will prove we're the real deal?" Mario rhetorically asked, mentally debating over this. Luigi was nervous from how the creepy mask wearing Shy Guy was staring at him, wielding that odd wand with a blue sphere at the top of it.

"Yeah! Exactly! 'Cept we choose our opponents. I wanna fight the brat here," the hammer bro said. Ness shrugged.

"Okay," he agreed, permitting him the opportunity of a fight. He watched the Hammer Bro jump up and smash his hammer into the ground hard enough to crack it open, startling the group as a green warp pipe opened up. The hammer wielding Koopa jumped in, vanishing. Before Ness could follow, Mario grabbed his shoulder.

"If things go wrong, use this," Mario handed over a Fire Flower to Ness's hands, a genus of flora that was big with red and orange colour, looking so bright in colours like it would catch on fire. Ness nodded, pocketing it before climbing into the warp pipe, leaving Mario and Luigi alone to fight the Shy Guy that stared at them ominously.

"Y-yikes… it's like Villager all over again when he first came," Luigi gulped.

Ness fell through the pipe. The fall felt a lot longer than it actually was. The pipe took him to an underground cavern that had blue floating bricks in it along with various question mark blocks. He forced himself onto his feet, rubbing his back sorely. He hated those kinds of falls. Landing on rocks just made it more uncomfortable.

"You ready, kid?" the Hammer Brother chimed in, having a hammer in both hands and ready to fight. Ness smirked.

"Yeah. I'll go easy on you," the psychic teenager claimed. He had fought many Hammer Brothers before in Smash Run. They weren't much of a threat to him, but he felt like this hammer wielding turtle was a bit different in comparison. Before he could move, the hammer brother began throwing a rain of tiny hammers, which he pulled out of the back of his shell, like it was full of nothing but an endless supply of them. Ness went wide eyed, standing frozen.

"PK Freeze!" the raven haired boy shouted, a light blue aura glowing in his hand. He smacked his hand into the ground, causing a wall of ice to rise in front of him. Each hammer bounced off the frozen blockade, chipping it heavily. The last one shattered it. He couldn't react in time, seeing the Hammer Bro run up to him and spin around, hitting him with both hammers and knocking him backwards. Ness landed on the rocky floor. Groaning, he got up, slightly dazed. His cheek hurt, and he saw a few droplets of blood go onto the floor, coming from his mouth.

"Figures I meet the only tough hammer bro…" Ness muttered, mentally cursing himself. His eyes kept focused to see the Hammer Brother charging at him, jumping up to try and bash him with the head of the hammers once again. Ness quickly slid under the attack. The Hammer Brothers weapons dove into the ground, getting stuck there.

"PK Thunder!" Ness shouted, unleashing a bolt of sparking electricity that hit the Hammer Brother, making him begin shaking uncontrollably. The teenager pulled out his baseball bat and swung, hitting the hammer wielding turtle in the head, knocking him unconscious and sending his helmet flying across the underground tunnel. Ness was panting tiredly, but seeing his enemy no longer fighting made him relax.

"Looks like I win…"


	38. Missing princess part 4

Ness had spent the past few minutes climbing back up through the warp pipe he had jumped into. He never knew how to use them completely. He knew how to get in but if he had to go back through it, he never could do it as simply as the plumbers did. He sighed in relief when he finally reached the top of the pipe again. The other boarder guard was unconscious, the shy guy looking like he had seen his fair share of a beating. Mario and Luigi looked like they had a breeze.

"Whoa. You okay, Ness?" Mario asked, worried for his young helper. Seeing the big bruise on his face was worrying. The raven haired boy shrugged.

"Just another chipped tooth. I'll live," Ness joked, though those hammer hits he received to the face did hurt a lot. His face was starting to get sore from all the abuse, but with both of the guards unconscious, nothing was stopping them from getting to the desert kingdom now.

"Let's get going! We don't have time to lose," Luigi insisted. They needed to hurry, wanting to save Princess Peach real soon. The three of them thus headed into the desert land. It had barely taken minutes to feel the merciless heat of the sun beaming down upon them. Mario was no fan of the desert, not even since he first landed in one. He preferred the tropical area in the land. Luigi though preferred anywhere that didn't involve scary monsters. Each step in the sand left an imprint behind, only to be recovered almost instantly. Mario knew the best way to survive the heat would be to keep their minds off it.

"Ness, mind if I ask you something?" the red plumber requested while taking his hat off his head, stuffing it in one of his pockets. Sweat was trickling down his face.

"What is it?" the teenager responded trying to use his psi to cool himself down but it wasn't doing much and he didn't want to pour every last drop of energy into just trying to cool down something he had learnt from an old friend the last time they were at the smash mansion

"Before she went missing… Peach had been acting weird. I know how close you two are. I wanted to know if you knew anything?" the Italian explained. His young friend was confused by what he meant, wondering if Princess Peach was being affected by the pregnancy. If his math was right, she only should be three months along.

"What do you mean by weird?" Ness responded. But as she told him, he wasn't going to share the information just like he promised her. He was mentally afraid of what Mario would do if he found out. He wasn't the father, after all, though Ness could assume one thing. Peach had given him his fair share of rewards for rescuing her, so much beyond cake, and he just wanted to get out of his own thought process now imagining it.

"Like one day, she could be depressed and the next she could be too happy. I tried to talk to her friends about it, but Samus seemed like the only one who knew and she wouldn't tell me," the red plumber finished his explanation, though Ness was oblivious to the princess and the galactic bounty hunter's friendship. He presumed that Samus would hate Peach. Maybe he was too assuming on that matter.

"I'm sorry, Mario, but I think you need to talk with the princess about this," Ness stated while wiping sweat off his forehead. Luigi knew he was hiding something, but he wanted to stay out of it. Mario was well aware of this, too, but was a little angered to be left out of the informative loop that was apparently being kept between Ness and Peach.

"Hey, we're here!" Luigi chimed happily, seeing the familiar appearance of a desert kingdom. Ness was mentally hoping this wasn't a mirage, though it didn't look like a kingdom. It appeared to be more of a glorified huge outpost full of wooden stands, some housing more toward the inner parts of the city. When they entered inside they could see a lot of Toads who wore cloth around their mushroom caps, and variously coloured mouse people.

"Ah, yes… Desert Land. This place can be great, for the most part," Mario claimed, but Ness was not feeling too great. He doubted the walk here was worth it any longer in the heat. He felt like he was seeing hallucinations.

"Please, tell me we're close to the warp pipes?" Ness questioned, hoping they were near the pipes Mario talked about that could take them very close to Bowser's Castle, saving them a lot of travels. The plumbers nodded, pointing straight ahead to one of the many houses with two Toads standing outside the door with spears.

"What are they doing there?" Ness wondered.

"They're just guards. Come on, we have to hurry," Mario then insisted, leading the way.


End file.
